Before I Sleep
by reniRCx
Summary: Hazel Marin and her journey through universes and lives. In which a life can be ripped away from you in an instant, and nothing is ever as it seems. Torchwood, Teen Titans, LOST, Supernatural, Naruto, Togainu no Chi, Stargate SG-1, Avengers, ETC.
1. Explorers

Us against the World  
>(aka, Drew and I against not only the world, but the whole dang Whoniverse)<p>

Drew

The first time I met Hazel, she introduced herself to me as Alexandra. I don't think I have ever called her Alexandra in my life.

I was in kindergarten, as was she, and I automatically gave her the nickname Alex. And that was what I called her, what everyone called her, up until fourth grade.

That was when we decided that Alex and Andrew were names too common for supreme beings such as us and decided to change them. I became Drew, because Hazel said that it was more like a name that would be in a fantasy book, and I actually enforced this, creating a two year long campaign that my parents, teachers, and classmates finally managed to get through their thick heads "Oh. He likes to be called Drew." It became my name.

Hazel was different. Alexandra couldn't be shortened into anything cooler than Alex, and I had never and never would see her as an Allie or a Lexi. I suggested Xandra, but she brushed it off as being too hard to pronounce and strange sounding.

I don't know how we came up with Hazel. I don't even remember who came up with Hazel. But from fourth grade onward, I knew the dark-haired, hazel-eyed girl only as Hazel.

She was Hazel on my contacts on my cell phone, on my e-mail list, and in my mind. To the rest of the world, she was Alex, but I always called her Hazel.

This lasted throughout middle school until it came to be commonplace that she turned her head to the name "Hazel" more than she did "Alex." We were like partners in crime, with her secret identity.

Then our world was torn apart, and everything changed. And from then on, everything would stay changed. Maybe in a bad way, maybe in a good way. We just went along for the ride.

Hazel

Walking to and from school with Drew were two of the best parts of my day. Usually, my top three were those two wonderful fifteen minute intervals and my sixth period biology class, but today we'd had a test in bio, so my only lights in the darkness were at seven this morning and now.

"My eyes are not hazel," I stated yet again to a still oblivious Drew. "They are brown and green. Two totally separate pigments. Brown inside, green outside."

"Yeah. I know. That makes hazel," he said. It was almost like he hadn't heard my argument.

"No, it doesn't. Hazel is a color. Part brown and part green is not a color," I explained as though talking to either a very young child or a very slow person. Drew was neither of these, I knew, but my condescending nature was limitless.

"So you're saying brown-green is a color?" Drew asked, equally condescendingly.

"No. I'm saying that brown and green are the two pigments reflected in my retinas and if mixed together, they might make hazel but they are not so they do not."

Drew grabbed my chin and turned my face toward him. I stared stubbornly into his blue eyes, with his long for a guy, wavy blonde hair tickled my forehead.

"They're mixed together in the center," he said defiantly. "And if you look from far away, they look hazel."

"No, if you look from far away, they look brown."

"So do all hazel eyes."

"This argument is pointless," I stated.

"We're not going to start a debate about the fact that we were just talking about what we were just talking about, are we?" Drew said in a faux exasperated tone.

I opened my mouth to give a witty response, but something caught my eye. We were walking along the road that leads from the school to our neighborhood, and like usual, it was pretty much deserted. The road was surrounded on both sides by what were woods in the summer and a snowy field full of crackly shadows in the winter, but now, at the end of October, was a fall colored painting with leaves piling on the ground and sunlight starting to filter through the usually near-solid canopy the trees created over the section of ground.

And through the woods, somewhere that would be impossible to see from the road if the leaves had been in full bloom, something glowed purple.

At least, I originally thought it was purple. Looking harder, I saw purple amidst a light that didn't seem to be a color, just pure _shining_ and various other pigments.

By this point, I had stopped short in the middle of the road, staring at the light, which must have been a hundred meters away from the street. Drew stopped too, and tried to follow my eyes. I noticed him jump a little and knew he'd found it.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, knowing that he would actually respond to what was actually meant to be a rhetorical question but not particularly caring.

"Probably a reflection. What to go check it out?" he asked. Sometimes I wondered what my life would be like without someone who shared my unending stream of curiosity.

"Let's do it!" I said cheerfully, cribbing a line from Rachel from the Animorphs series and again not giving a crap.

Drew

We brought our schoolbags along, but I set down my trumpet case by the side of the road. If any part of the absolutely nobody who ever came down this way wanted it, they could be my guest.

The floor of the woods was pretty damp, and I was glad both Hazel and I were wearing sneakers and jeans. Hazel is great that way. She can be a total girl sometimes, spending an hour getting ready for parties and such, but most of the time, she looked like she didn't give a shit about what she wore. It was always color coordinated and you just didn't notice until the tenth time you'd seen her on a given day.

We walked toward the light- shit, that sounds wrong- and surprisingly, it didn't seem to get farther away the farther we walked. Soon enough, we reached a clearing and the column of light, which I now realized could not possibly be a reflection, was staring us in the face.

"What the hell?" Hazel whispered, making it sound like one word. Whatthehell.

I only shook my head in response. Nope, no clue. From this closer angle, I could tell that the prominent purple part was actually in the middle, like the core of a nuclear reactor.

Don't ask how I knew that.

Really, don't.

"Should we try to touch it?" Hazel asked in her condescending voice again, as if she had been waiting for me to say it for the last two minutes.

"It looks like it's just there," I said lamely. "Maybe it exists only in a metaphysical state, like electricity."

"So you're saying it's just energy?" Hazel asked critically.

"I have no idea. But if we touch it, we could electrocute ourselves."

"Wouldn't we be able to sense static electricity from here, though?"

"Technically. But I said it could be a power source, not necessarily electricity," I corrected. "You get on this side, I'll stay on this side, and we can try to connect our hands in the middle."

In the next three seconds, all of the unexpected that was physically possible happened.

My hand connected with Hazel's.

The sky seemed to black out, though the proper term would be that it ceased to exist. Hazel's hand gripped mine for dear life, and our other hands managed to find each other in the abyss. We were whizzing through a vortex of sorts, and I found that I couldn't breathe.

Then it was over. I don't know how to describe it. It was all the bleak nothing of darkness with light everywhere. Rub your hands over your eyes really hard and then watch what happens. That's the closest you can get. It was like the place didn't even exist.

Later, I found out that it probably didn't. Existence is a touchy subject, and the existence of whatever nothingness Hazel and I had traveled through was unapproachable among scientists on every universe.

After the journey, which must have lasted about five seconds, I stopped seeing spots of color in darkness and found myself on a roof.

Yes, a roof.

Hazel

We were on a roof.

I took a moment to process this new development, and then walked over to where Drew was standing at the edge of said roof.

Looking down from the relatively high roof, I knew where we were. Granted, I didn't know how the hell we had gotten here or what the hell we were doing here, but I knew where we were.

By some strange twist of fate, we were on a rooftop in Cardiff. I had read about fifty fanfictions that took place on a rooftop in Cardiff, and the producers used a bird's eye view of the city of Cardiff at least once or twice an episode. Hell, I would recognize this city from the sky better than my own.

We were on a rooftop. In Wales. Somehow, we had traveled from a clearing in the woods in the middle of a Rochester suburb to freaking Wales.

"Why is this place familiar?" Drew asked.

"Think Torchwood," I said. I had made him watch a few episodes, and as my friend, he had watched all of the first two seasons. He liked Doctor Who as much as I did, but some of the gay stuff in Torchwood had freaked him out a little. We had only had about five hundred conversations on the subject, but Drew could never understand the utter epic brilliance of the show.

"Holy shit," Drew swore, recognizing the cityscape. "What the hell are we doing on a rooftop in Cardiff?"

"That thing was a wormhole and the fact that we touched it transported us here?" I suggested.

"But why would it transport us all the way it did?" Drew asked. "I don't know what that abyss was about."

Of course this was where we were going. These brainstorming sessions were a tradition between us, and we would go until we reached a plausible compromise.

"It could have been a wormhole. Have you ever seen the inside of a wormhole?"

"No. But scientists know a lot about them, and it's conclusive that the insides are either pure black or pure white. There was too much color where we were."

"That could have been visions our brains created because of our extensive velocity," I said. Okay, that was crap and I had just pulled it out of my butt, but whatever. Let him come up with something better.

"But it could also be some other form of interstellar travel."

"That wasn't interstellar travel. We were just transported across the Atlantic Ocean, not to Magrathea or an alternate ancient Egypt."

Yes, I was rocking the obscure science fiction references.

"I have an idea. Let's get off this effing roof. Then we check if we were transported a hundred years into the future, then go up to the nearest person in a Doctor Who t-shirt and tell them what happened," Drew said sarcastically.

"Okay. Best place for that would probably be in the general vicinity of Cardiff Bay or the Doctor Who museum," I said.

"Let's start with getting off the roof," Drew said, reminding me of his flimsy plan.

"Good way to start." I looked around, taking stock of my surroundings. "There's a hatch. It's probably an exit."

"Also a window-washer," Drew remarked, making a Doctor Who reference.

"Sorry, no Sonic Screwdriver," I told him. "I've got a lock pick, though, so we can get down through there."

"Okay, one, why the hell do you have a lock pick? Two, we don't know what kind of building this is. If there are office workers or whatever inside, they might not be thrilled to see two kids in school clothes tramping through their hallways. What if it's some kind of uber top-secret government base and we're trespassing and could get thrown in jail?"

"Okay, one, like you don't have a lock-pick in your bag also. Two, no top-secret government base would have this many windows on the outside," I said, gesturing down.

"You never know. It could just be to avoid suspicion," Drew said, being overtly paranoid. "Holographic glass or whatever."

"Some of the windows are open," I told him.

"Still. Are they in any kind of symmetrical pattern? It could just be to enhance the hologram."

"Drew, we're already in fucking Cardiff. I have no fucking idea how the fuck we got here, so just fucking listen and take this one fucking chance."

Drew

I don't think I've ever heard Hazel swear that much in one sentence. Actually, I wasn't sure I'd heard her swear that much ever. I almost voiced this aloud to her, but decided against it because it was easy to tell that she was pretty freaking pissed off.

"Okay," I said. "We get off the roof."

We ended up using my lock pick because Hazel's was almost inaccessible underneath books, et cetera. Yes, I have a lock pick. Do not make fun of my lock pick. My lock pick got us into a stairway lit by a single light bulb, leading us into the building.

Hazel stepped on to the staircase before me, and walked down in an almost fearless way. I followed her more tentatively. I was still kind of processing the fact that we, on top of being in Cardiff, were coming down from a roof into an unfamiliar building, but followed Hazel anyway.

Turns out we weren't in a top secret government base or even in an office building. We had landed on top of a hospital. No one looked at us twice as we passed by private rooms and curtained off corridor, two slightly rumpled kids with schoolbags walking in what we hoped was the general direction of downstairs. Everyone, (read as all five people who probably even noticed our presence as we walked down the ten floors of the hospital to street level), probably thought we were just schoolkids visiting relatives.

For all they knew, we didn't even exist. Maybe we really didn't.

When we walked out of the hospital, I realized that I didn't even know what time of day it was. I had never been good at judging by the sky, but I figured that it was about ten o'clock or two o'clock. It was only after I'd spent several moments staring up at the sun that I realized that I could have a) asked Hazel, because she was better at useless crap like that than I was, or b) find a clock somewhere and look at it.

We were on a busy street in the city of Cardiff when we descended from the hospital roof. Cardiff. Fucking Cardiff. Not, home, not even in America. Cardiff.

"Okay," I said to Hazel, reassessing our situation. "We are now officially off the roof. What the hell do we do now?"

Hazel

I didn't have the faintest clue about what we were supposed to be doing. I really was scanning the crowds of people for Doctor Who t-shirts, bags, or anything making them out to be a Doctor Who fan. There were five in Drew's and my grade in school alone, and that was in effing America. Weren't people like that supposed to be abundant here?

I heard only Welsh accents from the people walking by us as Drew chose a random direction to walk in and I followed him without protest. We were in Cardiff, and not in a tourist area, apparently.

"We should talk to someone."

"Who?" A silence ensured, and I added "We should find a map of the city."

"Where?"

"The Cardiff Bay Tourist Office." I was proud of myself for thinking up such a snappy, logical comeback.

"Does it even exist?"

"I don't know." Okay, maybe that wasn't the making of a brilliant comeback. "We could just ask someone for directions."

"To where?" Drew was unrelenting.

"True." I decided it would be best to just agree with him.

"Not helpful."

"You want helpful? We go into the Internet Café across the street, buy a scone or whatever it is that British people stock in Internet Café's, and see if we can find anything like what happened to us online." Now there was one hell of a plan.

"Great. I even have five bucks for scones. My treat."

"I was kidding about the scones. I hate scones."

"Whatever. Now is the part where we look up alien abduction stories."

"Not alien, per se. Or even really abduction. It's more like…spacial-temporal biomass transport," I said, pulling scientific words, mostly stemming from Doctor Who, off of the top of my head.

"Yeah, Google that," Drew joked, losing his tense, uptight exterior as we entered the café. I felt slightly self-conscious about me American accent and lowered my voice amidst a bunch of Welsh people.

We settled at a computer, draping our backpacks over two adjacent chairs. Drew went up to the counter to get food while I connected to the Internet, which was unbelievably slow on the second generation Mac computer the café had. Finally, right before Drew came back with coffees, a cinnamon roll, and a bag of chips, I accessed Google.

"How did you buy these?" I asked, remembering, for the first time in nearly thirty seconds that we were in Cardiff, Wales, the United Kingdom, Europe, East side of the Atlantic Ocean, and not New York, America, North America, West side of the Atlantic Ocean. "They accept US dollars?"

"Nope. I did my presentation for global today on Western Europe, and my dad gave me a E100 note to pass around. The guy looked at me funny when I handed it to him, but now I have better change."

I don't think Drew could possibly have a clue how relieved I was that we had money. Now we might be able to actually survive a few days.

Not that I was really even looking beyond the next half hour.

Drew

"Try looking up Doctor Who conventions," I suggested to Hazel, who was staring blankly at an open search engine box. She typed it in, and clicked search. That was one of my biggest pet peeves about her. She apparently didn't know how to use the enter key on the keyboard like a normal person. But I could forgive her for it a little bit, because I knew she had utterly dissimilar but equally petty misgivings about me. Friendship, at least the kind of friendship we had, worked that way.

Nothing came up. No Doctor Who conventions. Ever. Anywhere. I had been hoping for today in Cardiff, but the first result that came up was for a medical convention.

"That's not right," Hazel said, clicking the back button and proceeding to wipe "convention" from the search box and putting quotations marks around the remaining two words.

Nothing. There was no reference to Doctor Who.

"No, that's not right," I agreed slowly, when Google gave us a bunch of results about doctors who had done something or other.

"I'm trying Torchwood," she said, real panic showing through in her voice. At first I didn't understand. But then I realized what she must have been thinking: If Doctor Who wasn't here on the Internet, where the hell was it?

Torchwood yielded nothing except a bunch of references to a tropical tree that was apparently called a Torchwood Tree. On a whim, I said "Try typing TARDIS."

She clicked back again, and typed in the six letters. The six letters that would rock our world, send us on a cross-universal journey to everywhere at once.

I hit enter on the keyboard before Hazel could do her stupid little clicking thing and, before even looking at any of the results, clicked images.

The first result we were shown had David Tennant, in his full Doctor costume, walking towards the TARDIS, which looked older and more beat-up than I'd ever seen the exterior on the TV show.

The caption to the picture, however, did not say David Tennant. It read, and I say this verbatim "The mysterious figure known only as the Doctor among even those who know him personally walks alone toward his police box, which is known among his network as the TARDIS."

"Fuck?" I said, whispering it almost as a question. Hazel could only stare at the image on the screen. I pushed my chair back to the cubicle next to the one Hazel was using, where it belonged, and was on the Internet in record time, running another search for Torchwood.

Torchwood trees, torchwood trees, torchwood trees…I clicked the button to go on to page two. Here it was. I clicked the second item, the thing that would truly change our lives.

"Brutal battle at Canary Wharf linked to the mysterious institute Torchwood," the headline of the article I had unwittingly clicked read. I skimmed the article. It was local; a Cardiff journalist had written it. Of course- Torchwood was the most well known top- secret organization in the city. Only someone from Cardiff would be able to make that connection.

I noticed that I was still thinking about it like a TV show. But, as I had known for almost three minutes now, it wasn't. The graphic images of the carnage at Canary Wharf- that was all real. It had happened, in the London of this world.

Because this was not our world. I realized that now. We were in a different universe.

The Whoniverse.

As soon as I concluded this, everything seemed to change. This universe was wrong, the earth tried to tell me. Even the sky seemed to change color, though I couldn't tell if it was darker or lighter than the real sky.

I should have noticed it the second we landed on that roof. Something was wrong. No- wrong phrasing. Everything was wrong.

"Hazel," I said quietly. "I think you should have a look at this."

Hazel

_Shit, _I thought at first, reading Drew's Torchwood article, carefully lifted from the Internet by his magic fingers he spotted around computers. _Holy fucking shit._

Now, I don't swear a lot. But today, I had a hell of a lot of reasons to swear.

Torchwood. A word that had lifted me out of the darkness in my life, the word that had gotten me through a biology test that had been on the edge of making my head explode or an exhausting soccer game. The promise of Torchwood, of Torchwood fan fiction, got me through life. Yes, I know how that sounds. But the once fictional institute really was that important to me.

"So Canary Wharf was in May," Drew noted out loud, drawing me out of my contemplations.

I turned to face him. "We're in the fucking Whoniverse."

Suddenly, his calm demeanor dropped and he grinned in that crazy way he does only on really, really rare and special occasions. "Spot on. The Whoniverse."

I grinned back at him, and there was a brief moment where we looked into each other's eyes. Unfortunately, Drew broke eye contact, and the moment passed. "We should get to work. If we're really in the Whoniverse, we should figure out when we are in every timeline. Except maybe Sarah Jane, she's not important."

"I'll take Torchwood, you see if you can find anything more about the Doctor," I said, the title that was somehow a name rolling off my tongue as easily as it had in the past, but the word seemed to carry new meaning for the real person.

This time around, I Google searched Torchwood Institute to remove all the shit about tropical trees from my results. Clicking images, where we'd had luck before, I was immediately confronted with the Torchwood logo.

I clicked the link under the picture, and the site was apparently a group of conspiracy theorists. _If you believe the government and Torchwood are lying to us about the aliens and UFO's, sign up at the bottom of the screen. Join up to learn about the dark side of this mysterious institute, _the site description said. I already knew more than every member collectively did about the Torchwood Institute, but I wrote in a random username and password and gave a dummy email address to the box where it said to. It was after I thoughtfully put in that I realized I probably didn't even have an email address on this world.

About thirty seconds later, I realized that I was using a desktop computer at an Internet café when I had my laptop in my bag. I made an educated decision not to tell Drew, because Drew would probably strangle me.

About four or five seconds after this epiphany, I was officially a member of a conspiracy group. I informed Drew of this and he signed on under the same username and we started browsing through the forums.

Yeah, of course it came up with a lot of shit. But one thing was definite: we had been translocated (yes, I just made that word up) from western New York in our dimension to Cardiff in another.

A dimension where Torchwood and everything that goes along with it existed.

We were in the Whoniverse.

Drew

Let's play a game. What would you do if you were stuck on another universe with your best friend with little money and no clue what to do? Answer: daily double. Walk halfway across the city to meet the receptionist of the top secret alien fighting organization that said best friend thinks led you to this universe anyway.

Fine, Hazel's plan wasn't half bad. But you know what they say. Interfering with established events is bad. And on this universe, both Hazel and I were ready to assume that everything we had seen as part of the series Torchwood was an established event.

"We could change their entire future just by walking into the tourist office and saying hi," I pointed out.

"Good for us. Their future sucks, anyway. It would be really nice to prevent the end of Exit Wounds and forward before it happens."

"Yeah. Destroying this entire fucking universe will certainly save three people from dying," I said.

"Well, we know this universe. We could figure out what we can and can't do," Hazel said, sounding more logistical. "Also, there is no conceivable way walking into the tourist office will make the world explode."

"Hazel, we are talking about Torchwood. If we come at a bad time, the world WILL explode."

"But in the first episode of Doctor Who season 2, the Doctor told Martha Jones that what happened happened. They were always part of events in the world they both knew in the future."

"Yeah, but this is a universe we know, but not as our own. We know how events are supposed to play out here."

"My point is that we do not want them to play out that way," Hazel said stubbornly.

"Fine, you're right," I said. "But only because we know the bad stuff, too. We know the people, we know what happens when. If we stick around, which I hope we have no intention of doing, we could change everything for the better."

"And that's my point too. Torchwood three may be the only ones who can help us right now. We are trapped in a parallel universe. If anything is, that's a completely legitimate reason to go to Torchwood."

This was one of the things I loved most about our relationship. Whenever Hazel and I reached a consensus, we kept on arguing anyway because it was just so damn fun.

We asked someone who we stalked until he answered his phone so we could see if he had a Welsh accent and therefore most likely lived here for directions to the pier. It occurred to me that it would have been slightly easier to merely look them up in the Internet Café, but this was after we left that far behind.

Far behind, it turned out, in the wrong direction. We passed by the doors of the hospital again following the Cardiff native's directions to the Ronald Dahl Plas. Honestly, I wouldn't have remembered this. But Hazel, on top of being more obsessed with Torchwood than I have ever been with anything. Right now, I was glad of that.

Torchwood. We were heading in the general direction of the super secret Torchwood Three headquarters. Invisible lift, pet pterodactyl, underground hub- the whole Torchwood shebang.

"Do you think we need a cover story?" Hazel asked. "They might not think we're legit."

"That's what she said," I muttered. Someone walking in front of us turned around to stare. What, was that's what she said an American thing? Come to think of it, I had never heard a Torchwood employee use it, which spoke volumes considering that they had at some point used every other innuendo on the face of the planet and beyond.

The person stopped at a bus stop, and we walked on.

"But really," Hazel pressed. Then she grinned, and I braced myself inside for whatever insane idea was to come. "Maybe we should be Torchwood employees from another universe. And we've learned the secrets of inter universal travel, and we've been watching them. Preparing for this journey, and it's kind of like Stargate, you know, the original movie, but not, because we got here but can't find a way back but we know who they are," she said, in one hell of a run on sentence.

"One, there is absolutely no benefit to us doing that. We have enough of a story, and they are the experts. If we tell them the full truth, they may be able to figure out what that energy thing was. Two, we're fourteen years old. They would see through that. Three, that whole spiel sounds kind of like your National Novel Writing Month story from seventh grade. The one where the plot just went wherever your brain felt like turning."

She grimaced, likely at the memory of that disaster of a novel. "Fair enough."

"What's today's date?" I asked, realizing that the Canary Wharf articles had been talked about on the forum as if they were recent, but no mention of the whole conflict associated with Children of Earth had been made.

"No ide- December tenth, two thousand and…six," she read off a newspaper vendor's sign, sounding surprised. I waited for her to do her thing. "Technically, Random Shoes airs tonight. Do you think that's when it's actually happens? Today or tomorrow?"

"We'll find out," I said, pointing up ahead, where I could see what even I recognized as the roof of the Millennium Center.

"December the eighteenth or so is Out of Time, and They Keep Killing Suzie is three months after Gwen joined the team. I'm guessing that if that hasn't happened yet, it's about to."

At this point, we were following East Bute Street towards the clearly visible expanse of concrete that was the Plass. We turned a corner, and there it was.

Torchwood.

Hazel

Torchwood.

All of a sudden, it was just like six months ago. I was bored in a study hall, and having studied for my upcoming finals for hours last night had decided to give myself a break. So I went online in my cubicle in a reclusive corner of the library, and zeroed in on Cardiff Bay on Google Maps. I had followed lines from the Millennium Center to the Plass to the Bay itself, finally referencing a picture of the Tourist Office online to discover it's general location. After that, I had backed up and ended up at the water tower.

Torchwood. That structure, in my mind, was Torchwood. And here, it was really Torchwood.

"We'd probably do best to go around to the tourist office," I suggested to Drew.

"Yeah. Should we ask for directions again?"

"Everyone's a tourist here; no one will know, anyway." It was true. I was finally hearing American accents again, accents that sounded strange and grating to my ears, which had become attuned to soft Welsh vowels. "I know where it is," I said, calling up my Google Maps escapades of the year before. "We have to cross down to the level beneath us, right above the bay."

"How do you know this?" Drew asked.

"I was bored in study hall." All the answer either of us ever needed for anything. "Let's go."

The Tourist Office Door. As seen in Everything Changes, Cyberwoman, Children of Earth Day One, and probably a bunch of other Torchwood episodes. The Cardiff Bay Tourist Office.

There was a sign on the door that said open. I wasn't thinking about what first impression I wanted Ianto Jones to get of us as we walked through that door. But I walked through, Drew trailing right behind me.

The door creaked as I entered the dimly lit tourist office. "Hello?" I called, just as the beaded curtain rustled and he walked through.

Ianto Jones. Not Gareth David-Lloyd. Ianto. Jones.

"Hello," Ianto said in a friendly tone. "How can I help you kids today?"

Fuck. I had no idea.

Luckily, Drew took over. "We're supposed to learn about the history and culture of Wales as part of a school project- thing- and we figured this would be a good place to start."

"Our parents are traveling-" Fuck, what the hell was in Cardiff?- "marine biologists, and we're homeschooled. We get to make our own history lessons." _YES._ Fucking nailed it.

"Well, you're come to the right place," he said. "You're American, then?"

"Originally. We've been all over the world," Drew said. "I'm Andrew, by the way."

"And I'm Alex," I followed Drew, figuring that avoiding questions mattered more than our pride.

"Well, you can start out with this pamphlet," Ianto said, handing something to Drew. I leaned over, pretending to be interested. "It's like a paper tour guide, takes you all over the city. These tours have gotten very good reviews." He sounded like someone who ran the tourist office for a living and perhaps simply hunted aliens in his spare time.

"We were looking some stuff up online back at the hotel," I said good naturedly. "And we saw something a little weird." Drew knew exactly where I was going. "Have you ever heard of something called-what was it? Treewood?"

"Torchwood," Drew confirmed. I searched Ianto's face for any hint of any recognition. All that was there was a small smile, the one I often wore when I was thinking something ironic.

"There have been rumors, but I doubt any of it is true." Nothing but pure restrictive deadpan.

"Have you ever heard of Torchwood?" I asked.

"Yes. I don't know much about it personally, but a friend of mine says he has a connection. But he's a bit of a pathological liar, to put it nicely, and it's probably not the greatest idea to believe any of it."

"I heard that they hunt aliens. Is it true?" Drew asked, eyes wide as if he were sharing a secret. I loved our system of harmonious lying.

"I doubt it. But it's all so hush-hush, you never know. Besides, why would something like Torchwood be somewhere like Cardiff?"

I decided that we were going to get nowhere with this and decided to drop the act. "I don't know, maybe there's a rift in space and time running right through the center of the city that they can manipulate with that water tower somewhere in that general direction and they clean up the mess the rift leaves behind," I said, mostly sarcastically.

There was a reaction to this. "You certainly did your homework," Ianto Jones said guardedly.

"No. We're not homeschooled, we're not doing a school project, we're not actually related, and we're actually aliens from the planet Zog."

"The planet Zog? Bit immature for someone who can use the words "rift in space and time" with a straight face," Ianto said, and I found myself appreciating his sarcastic deadpan.

"What are we supposed to say? The planet Raxicoricofallapatorius?" Drew asked pointedly, and for the first time, I was glad for the hours I had wasted teaching him to say that.

"Who are you?" Ianto asked, his hand reaching for his mobile.

"Oh, by all means call Jack. I've been wanting to meet him since I was, like, ten," I said.

"Alex, was it?" Ianto delivered sharply. Now we were doing a verbal dance, one of sarcasm within sarcasm.

"Her name isn't really Alex. It's Hazel. And I go by Drew," Drew answered. I did my best to maintain my gaze at the surprisingly neat desk. Well, it was Ianto, so maybe not surprisingly. No one but Drew had ever called me Hazel. Even my little siblings called me Alex. My father, when he wasn't calling me names, called me Alexandra. My teachers all called me one of the aforementioned two. Hazel was reserved for Drew.

Or, Drew and Torchwood staff, or so it seemed. I found that I didn't have a problem with it. The part of my life that included Torchwood was for the person in me called Hazel, so here it seemed right for me to be Hazel.

"Hazel, then," Ianto said, showing no reaction to the strangeness of the name. Who knew, he could think it was just an American thing. "What species are you?"

"I believe, from an evolutionary standard, we would be classified as human beings, but some consider teenagers to be in a completely separate class, and others consider science fiction geeks beyond a certain level a different species. It's your choice, really," I said. I thought it was pretty brilliant.

"How much do you know about us?" Ianto asked, clearly not wanting to mention the word Torchwood.

"Hell of a lot, actually," Drew said nonchalantly. Well, _I _knew a hell of a lot. "Ask us anything, we'll probably know the answer."

"What's the name of our medic?" Ianto challenged quickly.

Painfully easy. "Doctor Owen Harper," I said.

"What's my middle name?"

Fuck. "No idea. Probably something Welsh. But your birthday is August nineteenth," I offered. "Ask me about something that's happened since you joined Torchwood Three."

He didn't say anything about that tidbit of his past I'd offered. "How did Suzie Costello die?"

"Killed herself. The day Gwen Cooper joined the team."

"How did I end up at Torchwood Three?"

"Well, you wanted the job because of Lisa," I didn't know what else to call her or how much to say "but you stalked Jack for awhile and helped him catch a pterodactyl."

His eyes were almost accusatory. "Who was Mary?"

"An alien who gave Toshiko an amulet that allowed her to read minds. Jack reset the coordinates so she would end up in the center of the sun." I loved the details I was leaving out.

"How do you know all this?"

"Not important."

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure how much I should say. If I say the wrong thing, bad things could happen."

"How many computer consoles do we have in the Torchwood Hub?"

Finally, a question that required brainwork. Consoles, that meant Toshiko's multitude of screens counted as one. The five workstations, then, one on the boardroom, one in the archives. "As far as I know, there are seven active."

"Thirteen," Ianto corrected. Oh, well. I had already proven my point.

"So where's the rest of the crew? Downstairs or out hunting aliens?"

"Downstairs. But don't think I'm letting you down there."

"Regulation. Of course. But could you maybe send Jack up? I'll feel more comfortable with his opinion on how much I should say."

"You know him personally, then?" Ianto inquired, again reaching for his mobile. He probably thought we were his long lost kids who did a lot of Internet research of something.

"He doesn't know us," I said, not disproving my made up theory.

Torchwood Cardiff. Torchwood Three. Fucking Torchwood.

Drew

I was extremely proud to know most of the answers to the questions that had been directed at Hazel. And of my beginning to our cover story, which had fallen apart after thirty seconds but was pretty nice, in my opinion.

When he came through the concealed door, he was wearing the coat.

I never knew how the hell he made the coat work, but he didn't look out of place- out of time. He was standing right in front of us.

"Good afternoon, Captain Jack Harkness," I said coolly, mostly to demonstrate that I, too, had an extensive knowledge of the Torchwood universe.

"Yeah, you don't have to pull that on me, just watched the whole thing on CCTV- handy little device." His accent was exactly like John Barrowman's- what British people would call American, but British words never sounded out of place.

"Okay. Then let's skip that part- even though, I have to admit, that part was _fun- _and get on to our real problem. How much do you know about travel between universes?" I couldn't help but notice how comfortable Hazel seemed around these people. These no longer fictional people. Needless to say, I decided to step back and let my usually introverted friend do the talking.

"A little…Ianto, why don't you go back down, I think Tosh needs some help with the program she's working on," Jack said in a clear dismissal.

"Of course, sir," Ianto said smoothly, understanding exactly what Jack was trying to say. He pressed what I knew to be a red button behind the Tourist Office desk and walked into the interior of the Torchwood Hub.

As soon as the door was closed, Jack crossed his arms and turned to face us once more. "Okay, who the hell are you guys?"

Straight and to the point. Very Captain Jack. "We are from another universe," I started hesitantly. "One where Torchwood exists just like it does here, only the details of it are made available to the public."

"If you know where to look," Hazel said, and I glanced at her, loving the way she rocked the totally straight face.

"We were transported here by accident- through some kind of tranindental portal, by my reckoning," I said to him, noticing only afterword that I seemed to be developing a British accent already.

"Not a transindental portal," Jack corrected. Damn it, I had gotten that word from Torchwood. "That's just a hole in time in space. To travel between dimensions…well, you'd need a TARDIS- and am I safe to assume you know what a TARDIS is?"

"Acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space, made up by Susan Foreman in nineteen sixty five. It travels through time and space, the Time Lords created them, and the last one in existence belongs to the Doctor." I couldn't believe how Hazel pulled these facts off the top of her head.

"So you do know what you're talking about." Jack's tone was impassive, and he stood stoically.

"Uh, yeah," Hazel said sarcastically.

"You could say that," I corrected.

"Let me get this straight: you slipped through a gap in the lining between universes from a universe where Torchwood is well known? How is that possible?"

I glanced at Hazel, and then spoke. "We probably shouldn't tell you. You see, we came from the year 2009 in our universe. So we don't just know a lot about Torchwood as an Institute- we know its future."

Hazel

Jack just stared at us. "Yeah, we know all about how time travel works in this universe and that you came from the 51st century originally, but there's some crucial, pivotal events coming up in Torchwood's future." I wasn't sure exactly what I was referring to, but it sounded really, really good. "I know who you are, I know a hell of a lot about the Doctor, and I know that you understand time. Please let us keep your universe from exploding?" I finished.

To my great relief, Jack nodded. "So you accidentally slipped through a hole in the Void and ended up on this universe?" he asked.

"Exactly." I hadn't even taken the Void into consideration.

"You didn't stimulate what happened in any way?"

Sticking our hands into a bundle of energy wasn't exactly an accepted stimulus. "No."

"So if your journey was deliberate, not triggered, how the _hell _did you end up in Cardiff?" he asked, his voice triumphant and accusatory at the same time.

Now it was getting a little over my head. "I have no idea. What does deliberate mean?" I asked, loathing asking what was probably a simple question.

"Triggered inter universal travel or even travel through time is substantiated by some means of breaking into the Time Vortex and manually shoving yourself through. That way's a little unpredictable- even the TARDIS sometimes ends up in the wrong place. But your way, _I hope, _was deliberate. I've never heard of an actual instance of deliberate time travel, but the Doctor explained it all to me a long time ago. Time lords had it that the universe itself was a thinking life force- it was more religion, really, than anything. But a universe with a mind of its own could choose to pluck anything out of one universe and set it in another. What I'm not getting is how you guys, clearly Americans, and not tourists from the looks of you, ended up in the center of Cardiff."

My head was spinning from the stream of technobabble, but Drew managed to pick up the slack. "So you're saying time travel- and, what was it?- cross universal, it's like programming a computer? You know, event based and BAT programs?"

Jack looked surprised to hear this from Drew. "You know computers?"

"Sure. It's an American teenager stereotype. What I don't understand is cross universal travel. So what are you trying to say? If the phrase was deliberate instead of triggered, we would end up where we came from, just in this universe?"

"Technically, yes. If the universe wanted you here, it would have you here but at the exact spot you phased from."

"We were walking home from school, and we wound up on a rooftop in Cardiff," I offered.

"A rooftop?" Jack said skeptically.

"No joke," I said. "But we ended up here, about two years and ten months early, and on a rooftop. What does that mean? Is there symbology in time lord religion?"

"Not that I know of. But if your phasing was deliberate, the universe would have a good reason for wanting you right here, right now."

It could be true, I supposed. If we had come to this universe and landed where we were before, it could have taken us until the Waters of Mars airdate (damn, we were probably never going to see that) to figure out that we were in this universe. But Cardiff in and of itself had led us down that path, and it had taken us a mere few hours to get from where our nonexistent spaceship had landed to talking with the Captain himself in the Tourist Office.

Maybe Jack was right. The universe had wanted us here. I could certainly think of some things in Torchwood's future that were worth preventing. And Drew and I could accomplish it! We had the knowledge; we could have led the CIA with the collective arsenal of skills we had built up over the course of our dually misspent childhoods. I didn't have to have helium for brains to know that we were capable of doing whatever it was the universe wanted.

"Is there anything from your universe that you think could possibly be on you that would be bad to expose this universe to?" Jack said, apparently choosing to go the condescending talking to airheaded teenagers route after our lengthy discussion on inter-dimensional travel through time and space.

I turned to Drew. "Oh, no. We'll create a cross universal Swine Flu epidemic." I was joking, of course. Drew had gotten the vaccine. I hadn't gotten the flu, and I rarely got sick at all.

Drew, for his part, shrugged. "Well, we could be carriers." He turned to Jack. "There's nothing. Our world is just what yours will be in three years."

"What day of the week is it?" I asked randomly. I was still stuck on Jack's theory of deliberate cross universal travel. We had come through at the same time of day, but that seemed to be the only correlation. Back on our world, it had been Friday, October 7th, 2009.

"Wednesday," Jack replied. No match.

"What could be the universe's reason for sending us here today?" I asked, still stuck.

"Later in time, long after the time lord's theorems, the quantum theory of randomness is proven. The two are too different to be combined; the modern, technological theorem wins. But now that I've seen deliberate cross universal, no less, I suppose the universe could play into things but not be specific."

"But it's the Universe. It dictates everything," Drew said, struggling to come up with an explanation.

"Well, I've never seen anything that proves the theory of randomness wrong, but by all means go ahead. This is a random day, specified location. I've never seen it before, but clearly it's real." I had never liked Season One Jack. He was too serious, and combined with the uncanny ability to be always right, things with him could get annoying.

He spoke again when neither of us could come up with a retort to his conclusion. "I can take you downstairs, you can meet the team, and then I'm going to put you through a lie detector test," Jack said firmly.

I assumed that this would be the lie detector briefly used in Adam. "Okay," I said. After all, we weren't lying.

Jack pushed the button that both Drew and I knew the exact location of and the secret door opened again.

Drew

Now, I will tell you that irony and sarcasm are not the same thing. Gold and silver are perhaps equally beautiful, but the light that reflects off of them puts the hues a world apart. And Hazel and I are certainly not the same person.

I was annoyed that Jack hadn't called us anything but "you guys" since we'd introduced ourselves. I suppose I couldn't blame him, we were just the two kids who had dropped into his universe and sought him out.

The meeting of the team whizzed by (and holy shit, the real Gwen Cooper is even hotter than Eve Myles) and all we were asked on the strange alien lie detector test thing were questions we had already answered truthfully.

Next thing we knew, someone had ordered pizza and we were sitting down in the boardroom with the Torchwood employees. Looking around, I added and subtracted to find what this scene would be like in a few years.

I perked up when Toshiko started speaking about converting BATCH files into an event-driven format and pretty much showed off everything I knew. I could tell she was impressed, though. Clearly these people didn't hang around with intelligent teenagers much. Hazel kept pretty quiet except when asked a direct question but supported my technical skills.

"Another universe, then?" Ianto said casually as he showed us to the guest quarters that they apparently had in the Hub (later, Hazel would tell me that half the fandom thought so because of the question of where John, Diane and Emma had slept the first night.

John, Diane and Emma. They would come. And what we would do would either save two lives, or change the course of the future.

"I found out where we are," Hazel told me when we were settled into the tiny room that contained two twin beds. Apparently, Jack either knew very little about the twenty-first century or had missed the fact that Hazel and I weren't related. "I asked Gwen about the guy from Random Shoes, Eugene Jones, and she said that that whole episode was a couple weeks ago."

"A couple weeks, and Out of Time isn't happening for another eight days? What do these people do in between episodes?"

"Two thirteen episode series and a five episode mini-series cannot possibly cover everything they do in three years. Odds are, stuff is going to happen that we don't know about," Hazel said authoritatively.

"But what about the stuff that we do know about?" I asked. "What do we do? I'm familiar with Whoniverse theory of temporal interference, but we know their universe to a T. Our very presence will change things."

"Well, going on Whoniverse theory" (this, of course, wasn't actually a commonly used term in the fandom. I had just made it up on the spot and Hazel seemed to have adopted it) "The way we know their 'universe' and this real universe are two different things. In our universe, Eve Myles would not be a cop who stumbles upon the Torchwood Institute. Here, Gwen Cooper is. It's hard to explain. But back on our universe, if we were watching the series, we wouldn't show up. On that universe, it's all written in stone.

"But here, it's just prophecy. We know what the future of Torchwood would be like if we weren't here to interfere."

Now I was getting it. Hazel could be almost as brilliant as me sometimes. "Because we're here, we can change things."

Hazel

"Exit Wounds, Day Four- we could save lives. Even in the episodes that seem useless, we could stop people from dying," I said, hoping Drew understood. Maybe Jack's theory was right. This was what we had been pulled out of our universe for. We were the butterflies who flapped their wings against the breeze and started a tornado.

At the universe's direction.

"Right, so where do we start?" Drew asked, drawing a pen and a pack of sticky notes out of his backpack and laying the latter down on his knee. We were sitting a little awkwardly on opposite beds, but we were almost knee to knee

"Out of Time," I said. "We can't prevent the plane coming- the last thing we want to do is mess with the Rift, agreed?"

"Hell yeah," Drew muttered, jotting something down on his post-it. "So, we can't stop the plane from coming, but we might save a little heartbreak by keeping Owen and Diane separate," he suggested.

"Emma was fine hanging out with Gwen; the only problem was that Gwen and Rhys fought over it," I contributed. "Holy shit. Gwen, at this moment, is having an affair with Owen."

"Right," Drew said, clearly separating himself from the gooey romance stuff that made up most of the TV show Torchwood. Then he looked up, pausing in his notes. "What about John Ellis?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "He was pretty messed up."

"Duh," Drew helpfully supplemented.

"Jack was the only one who could have even possibly related to him in any way," I said, thinking aloud. "Maybe it's the little stuff. We could keep him away from the nursing home, get Tosh to lie and tell him Alan is dead, but he has successful grandchildren and great grandchildren in America, who he can, of course, never see because of timelines. We could pay attentions to him, make sure Jack doesn't do the fake ID thing, show him how great everything new is before they really understand the Torchwood Hub." I was out of ideas, but if we were going the route of little things, I figured it might be enough to push him over the edge.

Drew was looking up again, his blue eyes burning into my brown ones. "What about us?" he asked. "We can't stay here forever. We have no families. We have no homes. We don't have any sort of identification. What could we possibly do here?"

"Help," I said confidently. Of course he would be more upset about the no families' concept than I was. "Torchwood knows our story; they can get us set up."

"Maybe we could contact the Doctor at some point," Drew said. "Ask him about that Time Lord religion and crap and see if there could be a way to get us back to our universe."

"Yeah," I said. "It's 2006 and Canary Wharf was in April, so the Runaway Bride is coming up in fifteen days."

"No. If we're going to do all we want to for Torchwood, we're going to have to wait longer. After the Runaway Bride, he's on Earth in Smith and Jones, the Lazarus Experiment, and Utopia-shit."

"Utopia," I breathed. And all the shit that was to follow.

"We'll have to plan ahead for that," Drew said, going back to his notes. "We know about everything. We can change things." I didn't know who he was trying to reassure; him or me.

"Back up," I said. "Utopia won't be until March or so at the earliest, because there are three episodes of Torchwood and more than a full season of Doctor Who between now and then. Let's focus on the Torchwood. After Out of Time is Combat."

"We can warn the team about the guys with the big white van right after Out of Time, so they might be able to put a stop to it before it starts," Drew said, back on topic.

"I wonder if they'll still have to make Owen a jellied eel salesman," I noted jokingly. "But he shouldn't get too involved, even without all the Diane baggage there."

"Good point. Captain Jack Harkness."

"That one's easy. We stop Jack and Tosh from going into the dance hall."

"No!" Drew said strongly. "We can't. That involves the Rift, and that's important. If Torchwood didn't open the Rift, maybe the Doctor's mini visit to Cardiff would have been even shorter and Jack wouldn't have the chance to go along for the ride."

"Which could be a good thing," I argued. "He would never go to the end of the universe. The Master would die as Professor Yana."

"So that's preventing Captain Jack Harkness, End of Days, and Utopia thru The Last of the Time Lords in one go? Nice one."

_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit._ "We can't. What about the Waters of Mars and the End of Time? We don't even know what's going to happen in those- all we really know is that the Master's coming back."

"You're right," Drew said, tearing off a third post-it and placing it on his bed. "So what can we do? We can have Jack go to the end of the universe with the Doctor and Martha- he needs that, anyway, meeting Martha Jones as well as reuniting with the Doctor- and tell him to put Yana behind bars and have him open the watch. Then the Doctor can keep track of him…"

"No," I cut off. "We don't know what's supposed to happen there. Whatever it is might make it essential for the Master to be who he was in the series. And for the Doctor to know him like he does in the series. Maybe that year has to happen- in a way."

Drew caught my drift. "So we let the year happen, but interfere inside it so it isn't so bad? We could take down Archangel from the beginning, rally the people, do the single-instant thing way early. And everything would be perfect."

"So, basically, we play it by ear," I said.

"Exactly." Drew grinned at me, and I knew that whatever we were in for, we were in it together.

We had woken up in one universe and were going to sleep in beds of ridiculous proximity in another. Today, we had met characters we had previously only seen on TV and in dreams. Who the hell could possibly know where we were going?

_End of Day One, _I thought as I turned away from Drew and pulled the tan blanket up to my chin.

xxxxxxxx

"How do we know we can trust them; we don't even know their full names," Ianto said to Jack when he came down from the Tourist Office to collect his things. Jack was walking around the main Hub in a seemingly aimless pattern. For conversation's sake, Ianto tried to ignore the many pieces of trash he passed in his sporadic rounds and did not pick up.

"They're for real," Jack said simply, coming to a stop and, after a moment of hesitation, sitting down in Gwen's chair.

"But how do you know? They could be liars, fakes- they could be dangerous. You can't just trust them just because they're children."

"First of all, I consider children to be ten and under. These guys have to be in at least year eight or nine."

"That's my point. We don't even know their ages," Ianto contradicted.

"It doesn't matter. I'm sure they wouldn't have hesitated to tell us if we'd asked. Also, I can tell they're for real."

"How? We've met liars, how can you be sure?" Ianto was truly curious about Jack's motives now.

"Because I've been in their position. They're lost, and the only sanctuary they know how to seek out is with us. They're scared, this is all new to them, and we tested that their story was true. Give me one good reason _not _to believe them."

Ianto raised his eyebrows at Jack's surprisingly revealing spiel. The team had always been kept guessing about the guy's past, and Ianto figured that this was a good time to let his innate curiosity get the better of him. "So, I take it you were in that kind of situation at one point?"

"When I left my home, I did it to search for something. It was a very just cause, but to get to it, I teamed up with the Time Agency. The Time Agency didn't always have people's best interests at heart, but they enabled me to follow what I was looking for through time and space." Of course, Ianto was familiar with the concept of Time Travel from records of the Doctor at Torchwood 1, but to hear Jack speak about it so casually was unnerving. And the Time Agency! Even Torchwood London had no details on that myth.

"So you're saying that you found this Time Agency because you had an ulterior motive?" Ianto asked, preferring not to ask some of the less pressing but more interesting questions he had. "What if they do, too, and it's not a good one?"

"Then we deal with that when the time doesn't come. They're just two lost kids, out of their place in the universe. Out of time, too. They come from 2009."

"So they're really from a different universe?" Ianto couldn't resist asking, especially after overhearing bits and pieces of Jack's conversation with the children over CCTV on Tosh's computer earlier.

"Yes, they are. And on their universe, apparently a lot of people know about Torchwood= that's how they knew where to find us. The girl is apparently something of an expert," Jack smirked, and Ianto couldn't even begin to think what Jack was wondering if Hazel knew.

"But they know everything about us. They know all of our birthdays, and histories- I can't even imagine what they must think of us. And we don't even know their ages!"

Jack swiveled around, apparently sick of the conversation coming back to that one standby, and typed a command into Gwen's computer. A visual of the Hub's infrared sensors came up and Jack focused on two small figures standing close together. He typed another command in, and a window popped up that contained every fact about their bodies, from height and weight to hair length. Apparently, the boy was fourteen years, ten months, and three days old, and the girl was fourteen years, one month, and eleven days old.

"Happy?" Jack asked sarcastically. Ianto nodded and looked at the stats again. The clock on the computer turned to midnight, and the day values on each of their birthday's changed.

In the statistics, which were mostly useless and sometimes funny (God, only Jack would install a program to measure something like that) Ianto saw one thing. These were not aliens, or cannibals, or anyone malicious. They were only human.

Hazel

I woke up before Drew, which was to be expected. My first thought was to go downstairs and make sure my dad hadn't trashed the house overnight and then check to make sure all the kids were still sleeping.

It wasn't until I sat up on the hard, tan Torchwood cot that I remembered where I was.

I put my feet on the floor and reached for my black and blue backpack, donning my sweatshirt from inside it and quickly running my hairbrush through my hair. Then, trying not to look at the still sleeping Drew, I grabbed the post-it notes he'd been taking notes on last night and started flipping through them.

It took three renditions through the notes, sixteen songs, and four games of Vortex on my iPod before Drew stretched and yawned. I folded an unused sticky note into a paper airplane and threw it with precision at his face. He bolted up immediately, and I laughed. Drew glowered at me, but it was worth seeing the look on his face five seconds before.

It was seven o'clock at this point, and I figured I had managed to make myself look pretty presentable to make my presence known in the Hub. Drew's hair looked slept on and his loose, boyish clothes were wrinkled, but he had never cared much about his appearance and I wasn't about to start for him.

Torchwood did get an early start, it seemed. Toshiko was sitting at a desk, starting up computers, and I saw Ianto on one of the upper level walks, making coffee. On further inspection, Jack sat at his desk and watched everything through the clear glass wall.

Drew and I stood kind of awkwardly, neither of us speaking, glancing around. Tosh noticed us and waved. We started walking over towards her. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jack stand up and open his office door.

"What are you working on?" Drew asked out of real curiosity. It looked like a meaningless stream of numbers rolling across the screen to me, but Tosh seemed fascinated, not even looking up from her work to respond.

"I'm coordinating the Rift manipulator's frequencies with those of the Hibachi satellite, which passes over Cardiff in two days time. If it's coordinated correctly, we'll be able to pick up the information from the satellite and scan it for traces of Rift energy, making sure there's no kind of rift activity going on in other parts of the world." To my surprise, I actually understood this.

"So the rift manipulator has some kind of versatile signal?" Drew asked, looking at the numbers. They seemed to be settling into some sort of pattern.

"Not really. Its signal is constant, but we need to refine the raw basic to pick up certain data. We don't want to be tracking every single mobile phone call in the city of Cardiff," she said, definitively pressing the enter button on her keyboard for a final time. The numbers accelerated, and a window popped up on the screen, reading Collaboration Complete.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack had missed none of this conversation from his office's constant CCTV feed of the Hub. These kids were definitely something special, he mused. With a little training, they could help out here. It didn't seem like they had anywhere else to go in this world anyway, and setting them up with a flat and enrolling them in a high school would be a waste of two amazing minds. Hazel seemed like the girl who never raised her hand in class but got all A's, and Drew seemed like the kind of guy who talked in class, never studied, and got all A's just the same. Their intelligence, as well as their extensive knowledge of Torchwood's future, would make them a valuable asset.

He watched the boy, Drew or something (Ianto was right. They would need at least last names) talking to Tosh with Hazel- wasn't it Alex, though? - standing behind him, watching with quiet interest. They were handling themselves well for two fourteen year olds who had just been pulled out of their time, country (continent, for that matter), and universe.

Jack didn't think he had seen them more than six feet from each other since they'd entered the tourist office. If they weren't related, which the scans had proved they weren't, then they had to be together. Hey, he hadn't even asked them about that. Not like he had any intention on hitting on either young teenager (the seventies were fun. Then the government had gone and set up all those boring laws…) but this could be useful. Of course, this kind of closeness may come from the concept of one familiar article in a completely new setting. Everyone would have that reaction. But it was the way they moved, the way they finished each other's sentences in a way that was talking with each other instead of over each other, and even the way they looked at everyone else. Whatever they had been to each other on their own Earth, nothing had extinguished itself. If there were flames in the first place, the journey to this universe's Cardiff had only fanned them.

Seeing Gwen walk into the Hub and greet Drew, Hazel, and Tosh, Jack made his final decision. These kids, if they so chose, weren't going anywhere.

Drew

Wake up. Talk to Tosh about computer programming. Eat bagels that Gwen has so kindly brought in and continue quest to develop a taste for coffee. Discuss motives of aliens conquering Earth.

Probably a typical early morning in the Torchwood Hub. It goes right along with Torchwood's dual lesson: nothing changes, and everything changes.

Nothing had changed for them. Nothing important, anyway.

But for Hazel and me, everything had changed.

"So, do you guys have any specific plans for this world?" Jack asked us. "You can't expect to ever visit your families, and you have no real identities so you can't go overseas anyway. All you have is Torchwood."

"Okay," I said guardedly, knowing that what he had just said wasn't the half of it. We waited for him to continue.

"I want you guys to work for Torchwood," Jack stated outright. This was no surprise to Hazel and I- this had been out intention. "Not in anything dangerous, mind you, and you'll need training, but it's what you're going to get here. You work for us, we provide you with housing in Cardiff and money."

I liked it. And I was glad that Jack had given more thought to the practical needs of our future than we had.

"What kind of duties would we be performing for Torchwood?" Hazel asked, her voice almost sarcastic, as though she were merely going through the motions on this conversation instead of actually experiencing it.

"Your basic shit. You'll stay here" I noted the present tense. "Unless we tell you to run and get coffee or whatever. You would be doing some cataloging, general helping out. Nothing fancy, to start. You get it?"

"Yeah," I said. I liked this. We had not only come into contact with Torchwood, we were going to work for them. I thought back to coming into the tourist office yesterday afternoon, proclaiming ourselves to be homeschooled teenagers. Maybe that was the equivalent of what we had been. But now, on this universe that was not our own, we were going somewhere.

Hazel

It almost scared me how easily we fell into a routine. Torchwood found us a flat within reasonable walking distance from the Hub for Drew and me to share. That arrangement started out awkward, but it turned familiar as time passed.

Our duties were simple: do Torchwood grunt work while trying to fix what went wrong in the series without the universe imploding.

Our first challenge came eight days after we arrived: December 18th. Out of Time.

Drew got to go with Jack and Gwen to the drop zone because we had warned Jack that it would be a great idea to keep Owen out of this whole thing. We proceeded to lie to John Ellis about his family, keep John and the girls separated, avoid a conflict between Gwen and Rhys by having Emma share space with us before she went to London, and had a forged pilots' license ready for Diane when the plane got here. John took a job with a privately owned shoe store in Cardiff and never learned of Alan's existence. Diane slogged her way through a modern pilots training course, complaining the whole time, and flies planes. She still talks to Owen, since that part of our plan failed in the nicest way possible.

Success. Collision averted.

After that episode (pun intended) Jack learned to trust Drew and I a little more. When events started gearing up for Combat, Torchwood put a stop to it before it started.

We debated a long time about Captain Jack Harkness. The implications of the episode kept both Drew and I up at night, whether we were discussing it as we often were, or just thinking. It got to the point that we sat down with Jack and told him, flat out, all the possible options. We decided to let Jack and Tosh end up in the 1940's, and let Captain Jack Harkness and End of Days play out as they did.

Things played out as they should have, and then came Utopia. We didn't know what to say about Utopia. "The world's going to end, but it'll be fixed sometime soon?" In the end, we didn't make a decision. It just happened.

Drew

Hazel and I hadn't really talked about Utopia. We could change things in the Year that Never Was, we said, and make sure no one remembers it all. But, I realized only after End of Days played out, helping from the sidelines, directing, wasn't an option.

If we were to change things for real, we had to be there. And being there meant being everywhere.

I didn't tell Hazel of my decision. She would want to come, to help, and while her presence would be a valuable asset, my knowledge of Doctor Who paralleled hers if not exceeded it. I could work it out, channel the activity. Hazel could too, but I wanted to do something on my own. To prove that Hazel wasn't the universe's only asset.

That was why I found myself planting a piece of alien technology in a crack in the Plass. It was just a computer chip, but Tosh told me that the readings that came from it went off the charts for the Hub, so I concluded that it would probably be visible on the TARDIS.

I didn't know how many hours it would take, but I sat outside on a bench on the Plass starting at eleven o'clock. The sun arced in the sky, past noon, and I knew Hazel and everyone else was talking and cleaning up in the Hub. I had to do this. The universe could implode if I didn't do this.

It was almost three in the afternoon that I heard it. I couldn't describe the sound on paper. But that was the TARDIS all right. Time and Relative Dimension in Space materializing on the Plass. In Cardiff. Here, twenty feet away from me.

I stared at the box, willing the doors to open up. They did.

And he came out. And my first thought was how the hell can this man walk around in public without being called out on being something greater than human?

Martha Jones came out, too – even better than I'd bargained for. The Doctor was holding one of his crude but way beyond human pieces of technology he so loved to flaunt and waving it around, probably looking for my microchip. Martha was following him around like a puppy, asking questions like all of the companions did.

It was time. Once the pair were about twenty feet away from the TARDIS, I picked up and started casually walking toward it, aiming so I would pass right behind the time travelers and look like I was going to walk by the TARDIS.

They had left the door open. They didn't even turn around as I slipped inside.

I looked around wildly. Jack would be coming soon- where to hide? I spotted a loose piece of floor mesh and yanked it farther off its place, and then dove under it. There was even a convenient chair in the five foot high underside of the TARDIS. I slid the grate back exactly where it was.

I had just gotten comfortable when I heard British voices, more similar to Owen's accent than the Welsh we always heard on the street. Hazel was beginning to develop a British accent of her own.

"We've got to go," the Doctor said in David Tennant's voice. "Now, Martha!"

"But the technology you were tracking! You said it could be dangerous."

"It isn't. It's a decoy. We have to get out of here now!"

"But why?" Martha said, being so _Martha Jones _that I actually smiled.

"Because…we can't have someone find us. It could change the universe, for the worse."

"Not him?" Martha asked, probably pointing to the computer screen.

"Shit!" the Doctor said. Wow, apparently he swore too. The Torchwood guys swore every other word, but the TV show was the same. There was no swearing in Doctor Who, except in references to a literal hell. "That's him."

I assumed that it was Captain Jack, running toward the TARDIS as he was supposed to.

"Martha! Shut the doors!" the Doctor hollered to his companion. I heard the sounds of the TARDIS again, only amplified from my position.

The dialogue between mainly the Doctor and himself ensued just as I remembered it. The "we're going to the end of the universe" line never failed to make me jump. Especially now, when I realized, in cold blood, that I was actually going to the end of this universe.

Me. Away from my home planet, a hundred trillion years out of my time, and going to the end of the universe.

And since I wasn't with Hazel this time, I couldn't just laugh it all away.

Hazel

"Hey, where's Drew?"

Fated, loaded words. I compare them to the likes of "Hey, who turned out the lights?" and possibly even "but we had the best of times."

"Haven't seen him, kid," Owen said as he scanned yet another paper from the floor to check if it was his. 'Kid' seemed to be Owen's universal nickname for both Drew and me.

I walked through the Hub, going anywhere that Drew could possibly be. I figured that he was probably doing something with someone outside the Hub and let it be, going back to where Tosh and Owen were filing papers.

I didn't notice Drew's absence again until almost three hours later, when Jack and Ianto brought in a late lunch from the Tesco down the street and Drew was clearly not there. I texted him, then tried calling him. I heard a dial tone, then remembered that his phone had been destroyed when we'd opened the Rift. No help there.

Lost, I ventured outside to see him sitting, in plain sight, on a bench on the other side of the Plass. I rolled my eyes at myself for worrying and started toward him.

It seemed almost like there was a trigger in the concrete that set things in motion.

I heard the sound of the TARDIS materializing and it began to appear in the center of the Plass.

Drew tensed from where he was sitting and gave the TARDIS a critical look like he does when he's thinking.

And Jack ran up the stairs from behind me carrying a backpack the size of a hand in a jar. (I was standing a little out of the way, I wasn't surprised that he didn't so much as glance at me).

While I watched from my partially hidden position, the Doctor and Martha walked out of the TARDIS on to the Plass. At the same time, as he had obviously been planning for hours, Drew snuck inside the open door.

I almost screamed. I almost ran to him. But I stopped myself. If Drew hadn't told me about this plan, it must have been for a reason. He must have had a reason why it was him and not me.

I watched the whole thing play out. Jack running, the Doctor and Martha scampering back in to the TARDIS, and it played out just so. The TARDIS had almost disappeared into thin air, but when I blinked, Jack was gone too.

It had gone perfectly. And Drew could handle things at the end of the universe.

Apparently without me.

* * *

><p>Tosh reentered the Hub with Ianto and Owen, carrying coffees to signify a well-deserved break after a day of cleaning.<p>

"'Thought we tidied up in here," Owen complained sarcastically, as though any of them could have possibly forgotten the hours they'd just spent tidying up. He turned to Hazel and Gwen. "What's wrong?"

"Drew and I didn't explain something to you," Hazel said. Tosh could almost hear Owen rolling his eyes from behind her. "We talked to jack about it, and he said it would be a better idea to wait until it happened. But Drew just went and screwed everything up, so I have to explain anyway." Hazel paused, clearly unsure of how to go about this. "Has Jack ever mentioned a man called the Doctor?"

Gwen's face lit up at the mention. "He told me about him once, my first day. Is it important?"

"I know of him. I never knew he and Jack were connected," Ianto said. Tosh didn't speak up, but vaguely remembered a man called the Doctor on the space pig escapade in London.

"Well, Jack is with him right now. They are on his TARDIS, time machine, and as we speak they are going to the end of the universe. They will come back. I don't know how long it will take, but it's probably at least a couple weeks. Until then, you function. The world doesn't end impromptu, and everything works out when Jack gets back," Hazel explained. Tosh wondered if anyone but her had picked up on the fact that the girl hadn't mentioned Drew's involvement.

"We can start by getting this place cleaned up again," Gwen sighed. "Owen, see to the medical bay, Tosh, make sure nothing went wrong with the manipulator, Ianto, check on the Weevils, Hazel, check all of the computers, make sure nothing important got damaged or unplugged. I'll try to sort the files that fell out of the drawer Owen and Tosh were doing earlier," she said, instantly her usual chipper self.

Tosh grabbed a tool kit and went to do her useless task, failing to convince herself that Torchwod could indeed function without their captain.

Drew

Utopia.

I had to hold on to a bunch of random thick wires as the TARDIS jerked through time and space. When it finally came to a halt, I sank down in the handy chair with relief.

I heard the TARDIS doors open and Martha shout upon seeing Jack's allegedly dead form. I counted seconds until Martha came in, grabbed the Doctor's "medical kit thingy" and left, and then slowly pulled myself up on to the roomy top platform of the time machine.

Now, I was at the end of the universe, but at that moment, I wanted nothing so badly as to be able to explore the thing. But I figured that that time would come, and since we had entered the universe, I wanted to do it with Hazel.

I wasn't sure what to do next. The trio didn't come back in to the TARDIS before leaving for the silo, and the thing was brought to the silo after an hour or so anyway. But, well, I was a Whovian, and waiting around like that just wouldn't be any fun.

I noticed only then that the TARDIS looked a little different than it had in the series. It was a strangely pleasing combination of high-tech and old school stuff, with the incredibly advanced core of the machine covered in what looked almost like a strange, remodeled ganister.

I tore my eyes away from the sight and walked toward the door of the TARDIS, trying unsuccessfully to not make noise.

I stood at the partially open door, watching the scene take place. Live action straight from my TV screen. It just came with a really funny camera angle.

Once Jack woke up and made his first innuendo of the evening, I made my appearance. I stepped outside so I was leaning against the TARDIS in full view of Jack but not the others.

Jack finished greeting his old and new friends, then made eye contact with me. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

I took a few seconds to come up with a good response. By the time I opened my mouth, the Doctor and Martha were staring at me as if I were a monster from hell. "Just came along for the ride. Figured it would be fun to see the sights," I replied casually. Jack glared at me, but Martha was nice enough to objectively respond.

"How did you get here?" she asked in that awesome Martha Jones way of hers.

"By TARDIS," I said glibly.

"You know him?" the Doctor asked Jack.

"Yeah. Weird kid. He and a friend hopped the border between universes and my friends and I ended up stuck with them," Jack said, still glaring at me. "I thought we decided that you weren't going to interfere in this."

I began speaking, but the Doctor's brain worked faster. "Tell me, uh-"

"Drew," I prompted.

"Tell me, Drew, did you know who I was in your own universe?"

"You could tell?" The guy was smart.

"You knew what the TARDIS was, you never asked my name, and this is Martha by the way, my very very good friend…" I awkwardly waved to Martha who sarcastically rolled her eyes back. "and Jack just said something about interfering, which means either you know about my timeline from your universe or you've traveled extensively in time in this one."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," I said. "I do know you, both of you. I know your past and your future, blah, blah, blah." This was no fun without Hazel. "And I know exactly what needs to happen here, today. We're in the year 100 trillion. Go."

The Doctor apparently missed the last syllable because nobody started moving. "How did you know? No complete records of me exist anywhere, _can _exist anywhere. What you're saying is impossible."

Okay, it was now or never. It was easy enough to be vague with the Torchwood staff, but this was the Doctor, for crying out loud.

"In my world, you don't actually exist- none of you." I was most concerned over what Jack's reaction would be, considering the lies Hazel and I had been feeding him all this time. I decided to go right out and say it. "You guys are a TV show."

Hazel

Drew and Jack had been gone three weeks. I was doing some task involving an obese stack of papers and a filing cabinet when Tosh and Ianto came in from some sort of retrieval mission with an alien object.

"I'll run some tests," Tosh said when we were all clustered around, looking at the metal object with a bunch of swirly designs and a distinct groove that ran in a square shape in the center. It looked like a box. "I already did some preliminary stuff out in the field, it's safe to touch and everything. We all played for it for a few minutes, then Gwen ordered everyone back to their bloody jobs and left me to assist Tosh.

It took us all day to open the thing (it ended up having a button which was nearly impossible to find in the intricate patterns of the box). It wasn't quite a box, even. When we managed to push the button (which we found could only be done with the equivalent of a pencil tip, not even one of my slim violinist's fingerse) a screen opened up from the box.

"It looks sort of like a portable DVD player except it's bigger," I observed. The screen looked almost out of place against the archaic patterns that adorned even the inside.

There was a strip of black that looked like another screen on the bottom, and Tosh hesitantly put her finger to it. "This thing is totally safe," she explained.

It lit up the second she touched the button, as it was. The swirly designs ( the likes of which weren't recognized by the Torchwood computer database) glowed blue, the blue spreading as though it were streaming information. Then, finally, the screen lit up.

I don't know what I was expecting. But it certainly wasn't for Christina Aguilera's "Reflection" to start playing and images of Tosh to appear on the screen.

I had seen almost the exact same thing before. At home, on YouTube. It was a music video.

I watched the video, and I watched Tosh. The video showed a lot- about Owen, about her experience with Torchwood, about her past. At the end, all she said was, "We have got to tell the others about this."

"How about we don't. We can make Owen touch it on a dare and embarrass the hell out of him," I coyly suggested.

The entire team ended up in the boardroom, playing with it, and we managed to turn a boring, dead, afternoon into one of those moments that last a lifetime and make life worth living.

We were at it for more than two hours, more than Gwen really should have condoned, but it was the most fun piece of alien crap to fall through the Rift in any of our lifetimes. To the society that had created it, it was probably the best thing since sliced bread. If that society even had sliced bread.

Utopia passed like it should have. I trailed behind through the events that made up "The Sound of Drums" and then, after I had explained everything to the Doctor in depth, he left me, Jack, and Martha on the TARDIS and came back about five minutes later. That was the year that never was.

I really do hope that, on some now nonexistent dimension, that we opened the doors. We went out into the world and helped what was happening. But I would never know, because the Doctor refused to talk about it and what's done is done. Or not done, depending on how you look at it.

Drew

The TARDIS materialized on the Plass exactly six weeks and one day after the time I had snuck on. For me, the whole episode had lasted about seventy two hours, maybe more. Definitely not a week.

The entire Torchwood team was outside on the Plass the moment we opened the TARDIS doors. Hazel must have had them watching the CCTV cameras around this time of day for our return.

"Hi," I said to Hazel.

"Hi," she replied. I couldn't resist- I pulled her into a hug. I wasn't exactly the type, and she _really _wasn't the type, but at that moment, I didn't care. It was nice for it to be the two of us against the world once again.

Hazel

Drew and I were in the roomy Torchwood Hub the night after he got back. We were proud of ourselves for managing to avoic a Torchwood / John Hart collision. I had never been able to stand the behind the scenes pieces where there were camera crews and film directors roaming all over what I knew as a top-secret area. But now, aside from Jack and Ianto doing whatever it was Jack and Ianto did at this point in season one in Jack's office, the Hub was silent.

"So, I never got to see that music video thing," Drew mentioned to me.

"It's still on Tosh's desk. I know how to work it. I don't understand it in the least, but I know how to work it," I said, having to actively make an effort to shut my rambling mouth.

"Let's see, then," he said much more concisely, flashing me a grin. I grinned back goofily.

I didn't make too much of a fool of myself setting up the player. This translates into flipping the on switch. "Put your thumb on here," I directed.

"You too. Aren't the best ones the ones with two people?" he asked with a peculiar tone in his voice that I couldn't place.

"Yeah, I guess so. But most people like to know their theme song before anything," I said.

"I already have a theme song. It's the James Bond music. And I don't want that fantasy to be ruined by the stupid futuristic gizmo thingy playing the Teletubbies song."

"Well we couldn't have that, could we?" I said like an idiot. Then I did something even stupider. I put my thumb on it.

The player came to life, the screen rising up. The thumb pad flashed red and we both removed our fingers, sitting back to watch.

Then everything went to shit. I easily recognized the opening to Taylor Swift's "Teardrops on my Guitar." I should have known that this would be our song.

"Drew looks…at me…I…fake a smile so he won't see…"

Okay, it was pretty cute. Just face shots of us smiling.

"What I want…and I need…and…everything that we should be…"

Taylor Swift, I hate your guts. These frames were slightly more incriminating. Me staring wistfully at Drew.

By the time we were at the first rendition of "He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar," my face was flaming red. Drew was watching the video and I couldn't glean anything from his expression. But he hadn't slapped me yet, so it wasn't too bad.

"So I drive home alone  
>As I turn out the light<br>I put his picture down  
>And maybe get some sleep tonight."<p>

No, no, no, no, no. Oh, shit. Drew can't see that, he can't.

I watched Drew as he watched me in one of my weakest moments, after that awful fight with my dad. No. He didn't have to know this! I was over that. It wasn't happening now. It was almost a year ago that I stared at his picture on the verge of tears at almost midnight, almost crying and holding a telephone.

The rest of the video wasn't as bad, but worse than the beginning.

After the last guitar chord, I fled.

Out the cog door, through the Tourist Office and into the Cardiff night.

I still wasn't used to living in such proximity to such a huge body of water, and the smell and calm sound of the waves refreshed me as I leaned on the railing that looked over the bay.

Drew came to find me. He was always too caring for his own good. I did my best to ignore him as he came to stand by my side.

"I don't care, you know," he finally said, breaking a surprisingly awkward silence. "Actually, it's kind of nice to think you care about me that much."

I finally glanced over at him. His position was identical to mine, one foot on the lower railing and both elbows on the upper one. "Thanks," was all I managed to get out.

"Thank you." The words were hushed, and for once I didn't even try to analyze them. No analysis was needed for a moment like this.

Our lips met halfway by mutual consent. It was a soft kiss, the kind you see in movies when a veil of golden light surrounds the happy protagonists. It was the best moment of my life.

When we finally broke apart, neither of us said anything for awhile. But this silence wasn't awkward; not at all. It was easy. Kind of like before, only better.

I guess that some romantic scene should go here, but I guess going back inside and laughing our asses off while making music videos was good enough.

The next day, I saved the videos to my iPod through the Torchwood system. Even Teardrops on my Guitar. It's funny how I thought to do that. At that point, I didn't think that Drew would ever be just a memory.

Partners in Crime. Yeah, it was Jack's little pet name for Drew and me, but I'm talking about the more interesting part. The Doctor Who episode- Season four, episode one.

We had agreed on this a long time ago. After awhile, we would end up doing more harm than good on this world. Jack had repeatedly told us that our presence was unwinding threads in the fabric of space and time, which didn't sound good at all.

We decided to visit the Doctor. And get home.

But first, we had Ianto show us how the bonding process works for the temporal locks Torchwood uses for top secret stuff. We made six capsules about important events in Torchwood's future. One of them, set to unlock on Gwen's wedding day, simply said "Congratulations!"

Partners in Crime eve. We explained who we were to the Doctor- I didn't know how much Drew had said, but he agreed when we told him Jack's opinions of us. He set up some sort of teleport thing on the TARDIS, Donna Noble watching and ranting the whole time.

Drew and I held hands as the TARDIS, or whatever was around us at this point, began to glow white. "By the way," I shouted as I started to feel lightheaded and weightless. "You'll see Rose Tyler again!"

As the light turned blinding, I could have sworn I saw the Doctor smile.

* * *

><p>It was the same Stargate-esque thing as before.<p>

Just like when we'd come to the Whoniverse.

There was no air, no direct light.

The only thing that seemed real was Drew's hand.

I don't know when it happened.

I don't know how it happened.

The turbulence in the place hit a climax, and our hands were yanked apart.

I couldn't scream. I couldn't hear if he was screaming.

I couldn't even see where she went.

Then, as quickly as it begun, I was somewhere else.

Without Hazel.

Without Drew.

* * *

><p><span>No Such Thing As Perfect<span>  
>(in which I royally screw up an almost perfect world)<p>

Ax's canister exploded, and the Yeerk ship was instantly filled with a brilliant light. I was thrown backward and braced myself for contact with the wall.

It never came. The light was blinding, and I could make out none of my surroundings in it. Then, suddenly, I wasn't on the Yeerk ship anymore. I was on the roof of a skyscraper, looking down on an unfamiliar city.

The Sario Rip had worked. But now, the question was: how well?

I took stock of my surroundings surveying the city. It wasn't New York or any other place I'd been-of that I was sure. But something about it seemed familiar.

It hit me a second before I turned around to face the giveaway factor. I was in another universe. Another _familiar _universe.

But not my universe.

I knew this the moment I instinctively turned around and saw the tower in the shape of a T on the horizon.

_Of all the universes in this dimension, I end up here, _I thought ironically. _The one universe where not only would I be useless, but the one universe where I ship a non-canon pairing._

I knew the drill by now. One step at a time.

Step one: Get off the roof.

Now, five minutes ago and innumerable universes away, I could have turned into a bird and sailed down with the wind on my wings.

_Dear God, turn me into a bird, so I can fly far, far away from here, _I chanted internally when my morphing powers did not work. Once upon a time, I had wanted that more than anything. Then I was flown farther away than I could have thought possible.

I had to start from scratch. I was on my own. In a universe where power-power that should have been impossible everywhere else I've been-was essential.

At least I had my backpack. I thanked the world-every world, in every universe-for small miracles. I was Dora the Universal Explorer. Always equipped with Backpack.

I knew exactly what was in my bag and that almost none of it could be even remotely helpful, but I leaned down to unzip it anyway.

That was when an explosion knocked me off my roof.

I managed to grab the backpack and slide it back around my shoulders. Not that that would help when I was falling a hundred stories.

But something else did. Some primal instinct, in the corner of my brain, told me to snap my fingers.

The dominant, logical part of my brain saw the futility of the gesture, but I tried it anyway. No more harm could be done.

I snapped my fingers.

A gust of wind swept my form up and promptly threw me against a wall.

I shut logic off and moved my hands to control the wind. Don't ask me how. I didn't know how. But on this universe, it was possible, so I could.

Unfortunately, an ill effect of shutting logic off was that I found myself on the roof next to the building I had come from even though my original plan had been to end up on the ground.

From here, I could see everything. And perhaps the most important facet of everything was the battle taking place a few rooftops away.

I recognized them. The five Teen Titans. Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire. Yes, I recognized them all.

Now, any sane person who had or had not just been transported to a new universe would have backed away and maybe used their newfound powers to reach the ground and safety.

I am not a sane person. Plus, I think logic was still shut off.

In any case, I jumped up as high as I could (which I realized was higher than the laws of physics would have condoned in my other universes) and snapped my fingers to make a breeze billow under me.

I was surfing on air. Wearing a backpack, jeans and a red t-shirt over a leotard and Spandex shorts, I, Hazel, was flying.

Straight toward a battle.

With the Teen Titans.

Have I mentioned that I am a Teen Titans fangirl as well?

Now I'm even more of one.

_What can I do by controlling air? _I thought to myself logically and simplistically. Solutions came up from every corner of my brain. I focused on the part that had actually listened in my honors physics class last year.

I expanded my hands to form a ball. Wind swirled inside, air particles squished together, and in moments, I was holding an impossible ball of swirling air, visible almost as if I were in a cartoon.

Well, I technically was, but everything else looked pretty damn real to me.

I released the air ball. Psi ball may be the correct term, but as it had taken a physical form, I dismissed this notion.

The ball rolled towards the creature the Titans were fighting and struck it in the back. I didn't recognize this villain. This didn't worry me much. I didn't recognize everything in the Animorphs' world either.

The creature stumbled forward from my attack. Starfire took advantage of his weakness and started bombarding him with starbolts.

With me watching from my midair perch, the creature dropped to the pavement and hit with a cartoonlike explosion.

"Robin to Police. Romulus is subdued and will probably be out at least another half hour. Pick him up and cart him off to jail ASAP," Robin barked into his communicator.

I sensed that it was time. I floated down and snapped my fingers again to cut off my powers. I fell two feet to the roof and landed perfectly.

"Nice save there," Robin said to me. I half-smiled back.

"Yeah, dude! We were getting our butts kicked," Beast Boy said. Raven discreetly elbowed him in the shoulder. "Ow! I mean, we could have handled it ourselves."

I looked at Raven and she stared back. She would be the most difficult to win over, I knew that already. But when I was watching the show, I had always identified with her the most.

Much as I hated being the one to do so, I broke eye contact in favor of looking back at the rest of the group. "You're the Teen Titans, right?" I said, sounding shyer than I intended but probably not as calculating as the statement was.

"That's us," Cyborg said confidently.

"And who are you?" Starfire asked. "Where are you from? What is your power? How did you find us? What is your favorite color? Do you travel alone? Might you be my friend?"

I raised my eyebrows at Robin as if I didn't expect this, in a way that also hopefully said "you are the leader and I respect that." Then I turned back to Star.

"Uh, I'm Hazel. Not…really…around here. I haven't got a clue. More like you guys found me. Green. For the moment. I guess so," I answered in what I hoped was the right order.

Apparently it was, for Starfire ran up to me and nearly knocked me over in a bone-crushing hug. I didn't have to fake how weirded out I was. I hate hugs. Always have. Always will.

"So what's your gig?" I asked when Starfire had finally managed to take a hint. "And who was that guy?"

"Romulus. A monster that is going to jail now. We are the Teen Titans," Robin responded.

"Yeah, I've heard stories," I said, mentally deciding to limit myself to five times using this excuse. "We're in Jump City, right?"

"Well, when you board a bus heading for Jump City, it'd be pretty safe to assume you're going to end up in Jump City," Raven responded.

Oh, this was perfect. "Yeah, I agree. Buses take you where you're supposed to go more than cracks in the space-time continuum, though," I said thoughtfully.

"So where are you from, exactly?" asked Cyborg, because this was the type of stuff they dealt with every day.

"A place that may as well not exist anymore," I said. "I was trying to get back from another far-away place, and I ended up here.

"Another planet? You are alien to this world?" Starfire asked excitedly.

"No. Well, maybe…it's complicated. I'm not even sure I understand," I said truthfully.

"So what were you saying about your power?" Robin asked, not having missed a thing.

"I don't know anything about it. I just discovered it. I guess it's just sort of an adaptation to this place," I said. "Or an accident in…transport."

My excuses were lame. That I knew. But apparently they were accepted.

"Wanna come get pizza with us? Our treat, for saving our lives," Beast Boy offered.

"Sure," I said happily. This was the easiest one yet.

As usual, I had thought too soon. "Maybe we can discuss how to get you back to where you came from," Robin suggested.

"As far as I know, it's kind of impossible from here," I replied, wondering just how much I had given away.

"Oh, friend Hazel! Nothing is ever impossible on this magical planet!" Starfire unconvincingly but wholeheartedly assured me.

"Yeah, we don't really do impossible here," Robin said.

I smiled unconvinced at his sentiments. Raven just glowered at me.

I recalled what Beast Boy had said to Terra about Raven when she had first joined up. For the first time, I started thinking about timelines.

In all my other universes, airdates meant basically nothing. Animorphs was in the nineties and I was able to map out the Whoniverse only because of Christmas specials. Teen Titans aired 2003 to 2006, and I didn't even know what the current date was. I could safely assume that the timeline I knew stretched over three years because cartoon seasons were less defined than those of adult TV shows.

How could I learn without direct questioning? I knew the general location of the Titans East tower, so I could check if that was there to see if we were before or after the end of season three. If I ended up in the tower, as I hoped and anticipated, I could see if Silkie was there. His episode was mid-season 3, so it wouldn't narrow it down much more but it was a start.

I could pretty much assume that we were before season five. That was the season that they were gallivanting all over the world and the galaxy in search of the Brotherhood of Evil. Now, they appeared to be staying here in Jump City. So seasons one through four, probably before The End. Terra would be the perfect base, if I could manipulate them into talking about her.

I ordered plain cheese, even though I had lost my morphing powers and had no logical reason to remain a vegetarian. But from what I knew, tofu was always abundant in Beast Boy's place so I could do what I pleased.

"And then, you came out of nowhere and, like, blam!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he recapped the battle for the third time as we waited for our pizzas.

"So you're saying you just acquired your power now, Hazel?" Robin said, trying to focus the table.

"Yes. Awhile back, an accident happened. Someone tried to fix it, but they only made it worse. But when he tried to fix everything, a lot changed. Where I went after, I was perfectly equipped for being there. It was almost like…destiny." I probed Raven's eyes, but of course she gave nothing away. Damn. I could have pegged season four right there. "And now I'm here, and I have these powers which, trust me, would not be possible where I was before." I knew I must be speaking in riddles, so I stopped.

"So you're saying you think you have the powers just because you're…here?" Cyborg translated.

"Pretty much," I said, just as the pizzas arrived.

We made small talk through the rest of the meal. Mostly, Starfire and Beast Boy made small talk while Raven occasionally interjected with a sarcastic comment, Robin and Cyborg discussed strategy, and I watched and listened for any possible timeline indicator.

"So, I guess I control air," I said. "Do you think it's possible for me to be in control of all four elements? Have you met anyone with elemental powers before?" Nailed it. Perfectly good, innocently phrased question.

"There was someone…a friend. She could control rocks and Earth," Robin said.

I pretended to look thoughtful, like I was noting the past tense. "Was?" I inquired.

"Her name was Terra," Beast Boy said. I resisted the urge to smile. "She wanted to be a Titan but she ran away from us. Now she's gone. Probably forever."

My curiosity was better sated, but I had pretty much put a cap on the conversation. Apparently the this particular pizza place was Titans eat free, so along with the realization that this was why they always came to the same place on the show, I didn't have to pay.

"So, I don't suppose you have a place to crash for the night?" Cyborg phrased it as a question, but I liked what he was implying.

"I could probably work something out," I said, knowing it wasn't quite a lie.

"Oh, but on your first night on Earth, you cannot need to work out the something!" Starfire said in her usual alien interpretation of the English language. Gosh, she was worse than Ax.

Ax. The Animorphs. Rachel would live, I knew that. Book 54 would never happen. But gosh, I would miss them. Torchwood and the Doctor had been new for me, and crazy, and unfamiliar. But those precious months spent with the Animorphs were the best thing that had ever happened to me.

But maybe the Teen Titans could be the same.

"This is where you live?" I asked skeptically. "Isn't it a bit pretentious?"

"I've only been saying that for two years," Raven commented, and I resisted the urge to smile at the one thing she had ever said that had any chance of proving that she didn't hate me.

"We're the Teen Titans. We can afford to be pretentious," Robin said warmly.

I looked back at Raven and she rolled her eyes. So we agreed on something.

"C'mon in," Cyborg invited, punching a code to open the door and stepping through. I trailed after Robin, finding the commons room exactly as I had expected it.

"No offense, but this place is kind of a pigsty," I almost said. But I refrained, trying not to annoy them too much too early.

"Mi casa es su casa!" Beast Boy proclaimed, scampering through the door behind me.

"Nos casa es tu casa," I auto-corrected. Annoying was bad, but smart-ass was okay.

"Don't even try, he's not going to learn no matter how many times you say it," Raven deadpanned to me, her hood down and her eyes mocking. In a perfect world, she would be realizing just how much we had in common…that we saw eye to eye in everything…

A stereo turned on loudly, making me jump and whirl around. I'd been through enough to develop an inability to decipher whether something was an explosion or blasting rock music.

I sat down kind of awkwardly on the large sofa, in a place where I knew no one ever sat, and watched as Beast Boy and Cyborg set up some car racing game.

"You play video games, Haze?" Beast Boy asked. I tensed up before meeting his eyes. Haze was Drew's nickname for me. No one was ever allowed to call me Haze.

"Not really. I'm more of a watcher. And I prefer Hazel," I said, accentuating the last part.

"Right. Well, wanna watch, then?"

"Game on!" I joked.

After a few rounds of car racing I decided that I was neither a player nor a watcher. Surprised at my own forwardness, I moved over next to Raven and sat back down. "Those two have officially destroyed any respect I may have had for the modern marvels of art, animation, and self-created suspense that are video games," I supplied. She grunted noncommittally in response, but raised her eyebrows in what I hoped was an agreeing sort of way. "What are you reading?"

"You've never heard of it." _At least she dignified that with a real response, _I thought.

"I read a lot. Try me." At the lack of response this time, I leaned back into the surprisingly soft couch and read a few lines over her shoulder. "Paul Atreides? You're reading Dune?"

She finally looked up after turning the page. "You have heard of it?"

"I love that book. What part are you at?"

"I've read it before, but the Duke just tried to kill the Baron," she said, resuming reading.

"Oh, that's where I start half the time," I said. "I'll leave you to it, then."

Feeling a bit better, I resumed staring at the TV.

It wasn't quiet, but there was a comfortable lack of talking for the next few minutes.

Then an alarm started blaring. Red lights flashed.

Trouble.

"Titans, trouble!" Robin shouted, and I inwardly smiled at my precognitive thinking. The TV got shut off, a bookmark was put into the book in the middle of a pretty intense conversation between the Fremen leader and Paul Atreides, and we all leapt out the door.

Nobody questioned my presence. If they had, I would have used not wanting to be alone in the tower as an excuse. But it seemed they were indifferent to having me along. Or perhaps it was expected.

In any case, I snapped my fingers and jumped onto my invisible surfboard as Star, Raven and Beast Boy took to the sky and Robin and Cyborg jumped into their respective vehicles.

For the first time, in that moment, I thought _I can be a Teen Titan. I have powers-the very power I've longed for since my real universe. This is me now._

I flew alongside the Titans toward the source of the trouble.

In a location in Jump City that the Titans and Hazel actually passed over in searching for the source of their alarm, Slade gently touched a picture on his holographic computer screen. "The Teen Titans have the fourth. We can collect the others."

"The circle can be complete." A young girls' voice asserted itself in a monotone from behind him.

"The circle will be complete," Slade corrected, smiling at Terra's unending trust as an apprentice. She had nearly mastered her tremendous powers, and Slade could only imagine what it would be like to have them all under his command.

Terra, the honorary Titans Hot Spot and Aqualad, and now the mysterious new girl, Hazel, as she was called. Earth, fire, water, and air. All of Earth's facets and resources under his command.

Hazel would be the easiest to get. She was new to this world, and if his theory was correct, new to this universe. He had seen the likes before, even had an instrument to see it somewhere. Perhaps he could snap her up with an offer to bring her home.

The more senior Titans may take even more persuasion. Hot Spot had a temper that was well suited to his skills with fire, but a fierce loyalty to the Titans. If he could get his hands on one of their communicators, perhaps he would kidnap Robin and force him to tell the two headstrong honoraries to surrender. Oh, it was quite fun making Robin do things for him.

But he was sharp enough to see that bringing the other Titans in, particularly Robin, was a mistake. Involving them could mean revealing his plan to them. And he certainly didn't want that.

"Right now, my robots are on the other side of the city vandalizing an insignificant building," Slade told Terra. And, oh, they were doing well. He could almost hear the screams of the office workers in his mind.

"And the Teen Titans are going to stop them?" the girl apprentice inquired.

"I should hope so. Otherwise that would mean they were losing their touch." Slade smirked and walked away.

Terra continued to stare at the screen with concern. What she knew of Hot Spot and Aqualad came from Slade's files, and as for Hazel, much as he would never admit it, she was still a complete mystery even to him.

But Terra knew firsthand that if the Teen Titans had accepted her into their circle, then she had to be good.

I was kind of following them, not sure where they were going. Either one of them had some sort of tracking gadget that was for some reason never pictured on the TV show, or the alarm had told them in which general direction they were supposed to go.

I was getting better at the air surfing. At the beginning, I had to concentrate hard just to remain upright and not have the flimsy board dissolve under my feet, but pretty soon I could keep up with ease.

"Slade Bots," Robin said with malice. I was surprised I could hear him. Maybe it was through Starfire's communicator-she was flying right next to me. But in this universe, I had yet to accept that some things that weren't supposed to be possible were.

"Teen Titans, GO!" Robin said, and this time I was sure it wasn't his natural voice. The wind was blowing in the other direction.

The Teen Titans went. Numerous Slade Bots, as I knew the Titans called them, were on top of, near, and inside a tall, silver-grey office building. To my horror, the vast metal structure was leaning to the side.

It was going to fall and crush an entire neighborhood!

I acted on instinct, if nothing else. I dropped to about five feet above the ground in the building's shadow and let my surfboard dissolve. I landed in a catlike stance, more instinct and adaptation to a world that should have been made of cartoons.

I raised my arms and wind billowed around me, and my hair whipped around my face, not that it couldn't have been screwed up any more by this than it had been by a combination of the last battle with the Animorphs, my trip through the Void, and falling off a building.

I felt it. The air particles that I was goddess of drew together in a swirling ball of impossibility, twelve feet high and the same across. I flung it at the building, but with precision, making sure it would retain its shape.

The building righted itself, and the other Titans were just finishing off the Slade Bots.

Yes, the other Titans. I had battled with them, saved their lives, saved others' lives. I could make a place for myself in this universe. For my intents and purposes, I was a Teen Titan.

Starfire whirled around, her eyes glowing green and fired yet another starbolt at yet another Slade Bot. Had they ever seen this many in one place before? And what were they doing? Knocking over the office building was so deliberate, but at the same time, so pointless. Why would Slade even bother?

Robin was contemplating this very idea as he destroyed Bot after Bot with his lightning fast Bo staff. Was this only a diversion for something greater to come? A warning?

The battle was over very suddenly. The Bots were all dysfunctional, and the building was standing. Robin comprehended that the latter half was all because of Hazel, and felt a mixture of pride and worry. She was good, but who was she? Where had she come from?

The Titans all grouped together in the center of what had been a battlefield for the last few minutes as hysterical civilians streamed out of the office building. The crisis was over.

Or so they thought until the ground opened up.

As usual, my first thought was of a sarcastic irony. All the people whose lives I'd just saved were going to die.

Then came my deeply inbred cynicism and suspicion. If that battle had been a distraction, why would the real thing be at the same place? And if we were in between Terra and Titan Rising, what would Slade be doing right now besides training her?

The answer came to me in what almost seemed like an earthquake, and my immediate thought was one involving Terra. But she didn't reappear until Titan Rising, and then on that mission as a decoy, she wouldn't want anything suspicious to have happened that could have involved her.

So no, this was all Slade. Terra would not appear. Maybe that would change-I certainly wasn't going to let Titan Rising through Betrayal happen as it did on the series- but I hadn't been around long enough to change anything yet.

That was who I was. I changed things. I acted as a god to make a universe better or worse. So far, I hadn't screwed up too badly. But here, I didn't know everything. I had never memorized an episode list as I had with the other three series I had so far come into contact with. There were some episodes I hadn't seen. I could really mess this one up.

But now, I only saw the Earth fissure and Slade rise up on a column of rock. The other Titans would put that down to fear-inducing machines or technology, but I recognized it as Terra.

I had been on this universe two hours and I was meeting Slade.

No order came. We all stood in a cluster, poised for battle the second the "Teen Titans, GO!" came. But it didn't. Robin let Slade approach us.

"Hazel," he said warmly, and I held my fingers in a very scary-looking presnapping position. I could feel the other Titans looking at me.

I had been wrong. I had already changed too much. I had gone in without a careful plan, a list of what buttons to push.

Drew would never have let me do that. I had failed him along with myself.

"First time in our universe and you're hanging around with the Teen Titans. Impressive," he commented.

I didn't respond. "Who are you?" would seem too fake, it was a little too late for "What are you talking about?" and I just didn't have a sarcastic comment in me.

"What do you want?" Robin said scathingly, hitting the proverbial nail on the head perfectly.

"Oh, it's very simple today. I want the girl. You give her to me, or the rest of this block goes in the direction of that poor little building." He looked into his fissure with what could be mistaken by someone who didn't know as sympathy. "Down."

"What do you want with her?" Beast Boy asked, and I couldn't ignore the feeling that they all cared about me.

"Oh, well that isn't really your business now, is it? Give her to me and your city will be safe."

"You might not think it's my friends' business, but it is certainly mine," I said bravely.

"Frankly, former Animorph, it isn't," he said. "I've already explained. She comes with me or I press the button. Oh, and I've already put a shield over these buildings so if I push the button, you die too."

I lost track of what he was saying at "former Animorph." How the hell could he possibly know about them? For all intents and purposes on this world, they didn't exist. Nothing of my life existed except for me. Was it telepathy? I tried to recall exactly what the science behind the events of _Haunted _was. Was Slade telepathic? It was never mentioned, and Jack had told me that I had an exceptionally strong mind, near the level of an empath. I knew I would be able to sense someone probing my mind.

In the next moment, I shocked everyone in the circle. "I'll go with you," I said.

"See how easy that was?" Slade hopped from his rock to us and grabbed me by the arm.

"New Friend Hazel! You mustn't!" Starfire cried out.

"Hazel, you don't have to do this," Robin said strongly.

"I think I do," I replied, looking up at Slade. "Thank you for everything," I said to the Titans.

"Shall we, then?" Slade asked, yanking me down into the chasm before I could respond.

Robin and the rest of the Titans were startled when the chasm closed after Slade and Hazel, leaving no trace of their presence except trampled ground, a few smoking trees, and a slightly askew office building that was still being evacuated.

"Did she know who he was?" Raven asked Robin after they'd decided to rendezvous back at the tower. "She never asked him, and he seemed to know a lot about her."

"What was it he called her? Animorph?" Robin asked for clarification. He sat down at a computer screen and Raven hovered, though not literally, behind him. "That sounds kind of familiar."

He typed the term into Cyborg's specially designed search engine and raised his eyebrows as almost 50,000 results popped up. "Well, her team's certainly popular," Robin speculated.

"Yeah, among the population of bibliophilic nine-year-olds," Raven intoned, pointing over his shoulder to the first result. "It's the title of a kids' book series from the nineties."

"Do you think that's what he was talking about?" asked Robin, frowning.

"The inflection with which he annotated the title fits," Raven muttered. "And she reacted to it. I could sense it. She was surprised that he knew. And she was scared."

"Did you get anything else from her?" Robin asked, trying to cover up his less than mediocre knowledge of telepathy.

"Not much. She's got strong mental blocks, like someone's taught her how to shield her mind but she never got to the level of doing it subconsciously."

"You can block your mind from being probed?" Robin asked curiously. That could be a valuable trick to know.

"It takes a lot of concentration and a little bit of psychic ability, but yeah. I could teach you sometime, probably."

"Sounds good," Robin said. An awkward silence ensued.

"So we've got a girl who thinks she's from an old book series in the hands of Slade," Robin finally said.

"More importantly, we've got a girl who is from somewhere that goes by the same name as an old book series that may or may not be the inspiration for such, and Slade believes it," Raven replied.

"No Hazel in the series," Robin said, skimming a Wikipedia page.

"Weird. Maybe whatever happened there was real and the author wrote about it as fiction," Raven suggested.

"Couldn't be. The main plot is a monumental alien invasion. If this ever happened, we would know about it."

Cyborg came up behind the pair at the computer, peeking at Robin's search. "Animorphs? I read those when I was little!"

Raven glared at him. "It looks like despicable literature," she said.

"So? It's for kids. Some of us had semi-normal childhoods," he replied.

Robin tried to alleviate the imminent verbal sparring match by bringing them back to the topic. "So. What could Hazel have to do with this?" he asked desperately.

"Maybe you misheard," Cyborg supplied.

"It's possible, I suppose," Robin said, relieved. He closed the browser window and swiveled to face the other two. "But whatever Slade was talking about is Hazel's past. Right now, we have to look at her present, which isn't great right now either."

Slade dragged me right over the edge of the fissure in the ground. I was on the verge of snapping my fingers and letting my element carry us safely wherever we were going, but we hardly fell ten feet before landing on a slab of rock. Yep, definitely Terra's style.

Slade's grip was icy on my arm as we bobbed toward the distant bottom of the chasm. Above us, the ground closed, leaving us floating in a large cavern where the only light came from Slade's red eye.

I was freaking out. One, I was interfering just by existing before I had a chance to think anything through. Two, I could be going to my death right now, which is ample cause for anyone to freak out about. Three, I was wondering how the hell it would be possible to kill Slade and rescue Terra. Season four, Trigon, was something I really didn't want to mess with. Every decision had to be carried out exactly as it was or it would be the end of everything. The Year That Never Was of the Titan's world. Interfering would doom the universe.

Our slab of rock landed softly on the ground, and I could feel it crack underneath us. "Lights, apprentice?" Slade said gleefully. "We can't have our guest thinking she's unwelcome."

It was then that I caught my first glimpse of Terra. She was wearing the uniform that she had worn when she was officially a Titan plus radioactive looking night vision goggles, which she proceeded to take off as the fluorescent lighting illuminated Slade's lair. I blinked to adjust my eyes, and then turned around to face Slade.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked Slade, ignoring Terra for now. If I were to get to her, I would have to act soon, but something was far more pressing.

Slade smiled and to my surprise, pulled a futuristic-looking gadget out of his back pocket. "Brain wave receptor," he said. I hid my surprise. That was why the gizmo looked so familiar- they had the same one back at Torchwood.

_When something goes wrong, the universe tries to compensate, _I remembered the Doctor saying. How many ways had my presence already altered this universe?

"How much?" I asked bluntly, remembering that even the strongest mental blocks were powerless against machinery. "How much do you know?"

"Everything," he said. It was almost a challenge.

"You can't know everything. If you knew everything, you would know that "Animorph" isn't all I ever was. You would know far more important things." This was mostly a hoax. But if he had gleaned anything real, he would have mentioned Drew or Torchwood. The Animorphs were only a tiny part of my life in the grand scheme of things, and gone now.

"Perhaps. You are smarter than I gave you credit for. You shouldn't be hanging around with those idiot Titans."

"I'll hang around with whoever I wish, thank you very much. Now aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" I proffered to Terra with my hand. I'd waited long enough.

Slade motioned to Terra, who proceeded to scuttle over. "My apprentice," he said offhandedly.

"Terra," she corrected with a much warmer tone. I shook her hand, assessing her. She seemed genuinely nice, which surprised me. I had thought the way she acted with the Titans was just a front for Slade.

But in _Betrayal, _she'd seemed genuinely torn between Slade and Beast Boy. Maybe Slade didn't have a strong enough hold on her yet. Maybe it wasn't too late to save her.

"And I'm guessing you know me?" I said, glancing at Slade for confirmation.

"I've heard some things," she admitted.

"Now if our touching bonding session is over, to business!" Slade proclaimed. I almost sighed. We just had to go there, didn't we?

"So what is this business of which you speak?" I asked sarcastically.

"You two have some of the most fantastic powers on this planet," Slade began. "The two of you plus a few others plus my mind, and we could rule the world."

I wasn't liking this already.

Cyborg frowned as he scanned the common room with Robin and Raven watching anxiously. Finally, he looked up.

"That girl had a huge amount of energy in her. I'm surprised our sensors didn't detect it earlier. She has enough power going through her system to punch a hole in the universe."

"Universe! That's it!" Robin said, punching the air. "Animorph, residual energy manifesting as a power that's only possible here- our new friend Hazel is from another universe."

The rest of the Titans stared at him. "Then Friend Hazel is an alien?" Starfire asked, finally.

"Probably not," Cyborg replied, catching Robin's train of thought. "Remember Larry? He was from another universe and perfectly human. That could be her, too. Larry's world was on my Grandma's fridge. Maybe hers is in those books."

"Here's her backpack," Raven said, silently approving of the practical-looking black and dark blue bag. She floated it over to the section of the couch where she and Robin were standing.

"Doesn't that seem a bit intrusive to you all? Cyborg asked as Robin eagerly unzipped it.

"Not if it could help us save her life," Robin replied. Cyborg shut up.

There were mostly clothes in the bag, but after a bit of shuffling around, Robin found a cardboard box that looked like it could be helpful.

He opened it, and Raven reached in to grab the stack of photos that were there.

The one on top was of Hazel and a different team of teenagers. All the Titans peered at it from behind Raven.

Hazel was in the middle, smiling, with her arms roped around a taller blonde girl and a Hispanic boy whose height Beast Boy grinned at.

"That's got to be the Animorphs," Cyborg said, astonished. "I was freakin' obsessed with that series as a kid. The one on Hazel's left is Rachel, then Jake, then Cassie. On her left is Marco, and that's got to be Tobias and Ax." The rest of the Titans just stared at him. "What?"

"So you're saying that's definitely Hazel and a bunch of characters from a book?" Raven asked flatly.

"I guess so."

"So our friend Hazel has stepped into our world from a piece of literature? How wonderfully magical!" Starfire exclaimed.

"I don't think that's quite it, Star," Robin admitted. He turned to Raven. "What was it she said this morning? Like she'd been a lot of places."

"She said that an accident had brought her someplace, I can only assume that's another universe, and then two different attempts to fix it failed."

Robin took the stack of photos and flipped through them. Eventually, another section came up. It was another team photo, with Hazel, a male teenager who looked around her age, and a few adults. They were posed in front of a sign that said TORCHWOOD.

Robin speed searched the term, and before the team's eyes unfolded another element of Hazel's past. Torchwood.

"We could be unstoppable." Slade's voice sounded definitive, confident. No wonder the series had stressed that he was good with mind games.

"Who's the 'we' in this, though?" I asked, standing next to Terra, in front of Slade. From all the Bionicle, WITCH, and Avatar I had ever seen, watched, or read, I was pretty sure I knew what was coming.

"You, Hazel. Terra. And two more, who you wouldn't know. And, of course, me."

"Let's just assume I know everything, for now. What are their names?"

"Hot Spot and Aqualad. And I am entrusting you four to rule the world with me."

Now I was sure of Slade's intentions. Air, earth, fire, water. The building blocks of everything.

And he was right. If he was in control of all that, he would be unstoppable. But he was never going to be in control of me.

"But why are you trusting us?" I asked guardedly. If this was going to work, I had to get it exactly right. "How do you know we won't just run away?"

"Because you wouldn't dare," Slade said in that crafty way of his that had me subconsciously leaning back.

"How do we find Hot Spot and Aqualad?" Terra asked, surprising me. This was the first time I had heard her ask Slade a question.

"All in time, my dears," the supervillain said. "They're already here."

Shit.

Shit, shittity, shit-shit.

Hot Spot and Aqualad. Timelines said they didn't meet until the while Master of Games fiasco.

Would it matter? I had gotten good at judging this. The heroes had their little bonding session at the beginning of the episode and then went off to fight. Speedy against Aqualad and Robin against Hot Spot. Far as I knew, the pairs were chosen randomly. But if that could change, I would have to warn Robin.

Time is a relative thing. What I know from my past could be crucial in their future. And the future I know could never happen because I know of it.

Time is relative. Relative is code for messed up.

But now, time was essential. "What do we need to do?"

I'd never seen Aqualad and Hot Spot working together. It just didn't happen. Their personalities were, literally, like fire and water.

Terra led me deeper into the lair, following directions from Slade on her communicator. My fingers had never left their position, poised to snap. Yeah, I was going to get a carpal tunnel, but better that than dead.

"So…you work for him?" I asked Terra. We were in a descending passageway, lit only sporadically by lanterns. With the birth of my new powers, it seemed, my claustrophobia had multiplied tenfold. The tunnel must have been six feet tall and slightly less in width.

"I am his apprentice," Terra told me, even though she knew I had heard Slade explain earlier.

"Why? He doesn't seem like the nicest of mentors," I observed offhandedly.

Terra turned to face me. "Before I met Slade, I had no control over my powers. Everywhere I went, they followed me, tearing things apart, killing, destroying. I couldn't go on like that."

"So you joined Slade?" I made my voice sound sympathetic now. No reason to make her hate me.

"Yes. And he isn't the nicest of mentors, and doesn't always have the purest intentions, but he has done wonderful things for me."

"But if you don't like him, why don't you just leave?" Now I was asking questions I'd asked myself while watching the show. Oh, how tables could turn. Right now, the tables had done a nine thousand degree turn and then fell apart and splintered. Metaphorically.

"Honestly? I'm scared," Terra said, sounding closer to her age, which couldn't be any more than mine. "He's powerful, more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

"On the contrary, I have a pretty big imagination," I corrected. "And I've met some pretty powerful people. Just tell me; in your honest opinion, as a person, not his apprentice, is Slade good or bad?"

Terra hesitated and glanced around as if Slade were about to jump from the shadows. "Bad," she finally whispered.

We continued in an uncomfortable silence, Terra leading the way. Eventually, we came to a door. Terra entered a key code that I unfortunately missed, and it slid open for us, revealing a blast of cool air and a better lighted, far more modern room.

I trailed inside after Terra, goose bumps being raised on my arms. I was still wearing my red t-shirt and jeans, which by some miracle hadn't been destroyed in the explosion. It still felt normal to me, but I was now in a world of superhero costumes. Maybe the Titans and the Justice League had a guy they went to who designed all their stuff. Maybe there was some huge conference every year, both heroes and villains allowed, to discuss fabrics and fashion. I would have to attend the next one.

The room Terra and I were in had an odd pattern of circles on the floor. I recognized it.

_Wherever you will go, there will be some things following you through time, space, and everything, _Ax had guessed when the exact same thing had happened a few months ago- things had started to leak over from the Whoniverse to the Animorphs' world.

The circles were half of a teleport machine. As seen in The Sontaran Stratagem and Silence in the Library. Just another of those pointless little things, following me through space and time.

In the very center of the room was a gleaming bronze stand that looked like a podium but was too small and thin. On it was one thing: a big, red, don't- you- dare- push- this- button, button.

Terra walked up to the big, red, don't- you- dare- push- this- button button and pushed it.

The lights of the room dimmed. _Conserving energy so the teleport can work properly, _I thought. Two of the teleport spaces lit up on the floor and then seemed to explode. Clearly, Terra hadn't seen one of these before. While I shut my eyes before any real damage could be done, Terra cried out and threw a hand up over her eyes when the room filled with light.

_Slade still hasn't told her everything, _I thought, storing it in my memory to analyze later, if necessary. Now, there were more important things to think about: the presence of Hot Spot and Aqualad.

I was in the middle of thinking up a good introduction when Terra said "Hi, I'm Terra. You two aren't going to believe what you're about to be a part of."

"I'm Hazel," I said. When Aqualad opened his mouth to speak, I continued, "Don't bother. We already know exactly who you two are and exactly what you can do." It occurred to me only after I said this that the last thing I was trying to do was intimidate and alienate them, and that as far as Terra knew, I had no idea who they were.

Terra didn't seem to realize this, and for the first time I remembered that she could be kind of a ditz in the series. She nodded at me and started out the door.

"Wait," I said. Terra turned around. Hot Spot and Aqua still hadn't moved, and their tough guy positions were identical. Maybe they would get along for this.

"Can Slade hear what we say here?" I asked as quietly as possible when Terra had returned to my side.

"Probably. But I seriously doubt he'd bother," Terra replied in a normal voice. I decided to trust her instinct.

"Do you work for Slade?" Aqualad asked. He stared straight at me, and I decided I understood why every single female character in the series seemed to have a crush on him. He was good-looking like Starfire was, in an almost foreign way, but he also had a tangible intensity around him, deigning him as someone not to be messed with. Maybe even in all caps.

"No," I said, knowing that this would be news to Terra as well. "He wants us to, though. All of us."

"Then why should we trust you?" Hot Spot asked.

"Because all of us together is the only way we can stop him. I think I know what he's planning, and it's big. And it could probably destroy the world."

"Who the hell are you to be calling the shots, anyway? And how the fuck did I end up here in the first place?" Ah, the first swear words I had heard in this universe. It's amazing what's inside the minds of children's favorite characters and what gets cut out of the TV shows. The worst swear word used in any Animorphs book was "hell," and most of them had reasonably dirty mouths in real life.

I turned to Hot Spot. "I am a person who is new to this universe but knows what's going on. And I'm the one who's interested in saving the world."

"Saving the world is one of my favorite pastimes," Aqualad said determinedly.

"Good. You'll need it," I said. "Anyways: to business. Aqualad controls water, Hot Spot controls fire, Terra controls earth, and I control air. Those sound familiar?"

"They were the four elements in _Angels and Demons_," Hot Spot said. Okay, not exactly what I had been expecting. I forced myself not to let us get into a conversation about the merits of Dan Brown.

"Yeah. The four elements you see in pretty much everything. Together, Slade thinks we could be unstoppable. And he's right- probably."

"How do you know all this?" Terra asked in disbelief.

"I told you earlier. I know everything," I said casually, accidentally reminding myself of Ianto. This was the last time I was using that particular excuse.

"So what does Slade want with us?" Aqualad asked, straight and to the point.

"Power," I said definitively, even though it was only a guess. "We are power. And whether his plan involves killing us or using us, it's not going to be pretty for us or the rest of the world." I turned to Terra. "Terra. You've stood by his side as he summoned monsters, stole precious artifacts, and tried to destroy your friends. It has to stop somewhere. And where has to be your choice." I paused. "But I would strongly suggest right here and right now."

Terra thought. "I'm with you guys," she said. "Slade has done some awful things, and I don't want to be the one who destroys the universe."

"Well, if he destroyed the universe I'd probably just be plummeted into another one," I said sarcastically. _SHIT! Did I really just say that out loud? _"But thank you. We need to stand together."

"I don't want to burst your little pep talk bubble," Hot Spot said. "But what the hell are you talking about? We're supposed to be working with Slade, yes, and I know who he is, but what are we supposed to do."

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure either. But Terra knows Slade better than any of us and she doesn't think he's up to any good."

"Is there a plan?" Aqualad inquired. Right, that little piece…I was never any good at being a leader.

"We should pretend to stand with him as long as possible," Terra said. "To make him not suspect. He'll begin to trust us, tell us more. Then we strike."

"Good plan," I told her approvingly. "We might not get a chance to rendezvous like this again, but at least we're all on the same page. We just have to play it by ear."

Slade smirked as he watched Terra and the other kids' interaction on the monitor. Once they were on his side once and for all, this team would be unstoppable.

He glanced with what on anyone else might have been called regret at the four metal contraptions behind him, which had been cloaked when Terra and Hazel had been in the room. He would hate to lost his apprentice over this, but he could always find another if he needed one after he had all the powers of earth, air, fire and water at his command.

He noted that Terra had not suspected anything about the plan, putting it down to the fact that her training was incomplete. It was so glaringly obvious for him: If he was planning to let the children do it all themselves, why had he not brainwashed them yet?

Terra had seen it. He had been planning to use it on Terra so she could help him destroy the Teen Titans before Hazel and this wonderful opportunity had come along. But since he had no intention of ever letting her or the others see the light of day again, he felt it was safe for them to die as themselves.

Again, he glanced at the power manipulators he'd built from old parts and Professor Chang's contraband. They would work- Professor Chang had said they would.

The children started up the stairs and Slade pushed a button on the wall, starting up the machines. It was time.

"I've got a partial fix on Slade's location," Cyborg reported, unburying himself from the computer he had been using. "I tracked it through the residual energy Hazel's giving off. The girl's a walking nuclear factory. If Slade could harness that power, we could have a catastrophe on our hands."

"So we have to stop it," Raven said.

"Right," Robin said, zipping Hazel's bag back up. "Where are they, Cy?"

"About two miles from where we just were. I did a seismic scan of the terrain there by satellite, and apparently there's a tunnel leading from there to a large underground cavern where they are now. There doesn't seem to be any kind of entrance, though. The one they used was completely sealed off. He must have incorporated a system through that whole area of earth."

"So he has a secret lair with no entrance?" Beast Boy asked. "How are we supposed to get in?"

Robin smiled. "We make an entrance."

We walked back up the creepy, slanting passageway, with Terra once again in the lead. I was scared, sure, but I had been in worse situation on worlds where everything didn't always turn out perfectly.

Terra had to type in another key code to get out of the cells, and this time I caught it. One eight four five nine six six six. Of course six six six. I carefully put the numbers to memory, knowing that teleports could be valuable for escaping if the need arose.

Soon after, we were facing Slade as a team.

This had to be weird for Terra. She, the one who was used to standing by her mentor's side, was facing him, and, though it was currently unknown to him, against him. Things had already changed for her. And things would change still.

"Now what do you want from us?" I asked, informally deciding that I would be the one doing the talking. I may not have been quite cryptic enough with Slade to be intimidating, but there was still a chance.

"I already have it," Slade said, smiling as much as _Slade _can smile. I sensed there was something wrong. But as usual, that little niggling sense didn't do me much good.

Suddenly, I was strapped into a metal _thing _that reminded me of what an electric chair should look like. It hadn't been there a second ago.

"What are you doing?" Terra asked in confusion.

I understood then. Slade had never been planning to make an alliance out of us. How hadn't I sensed that doing something so civil just wasn't his style?

"What do these do?" I asked, my cool and casual voice not portraying how I was really feeling- scared and confused.

Slade didn't have to answer for me. Right then, Hot Spot cried out from the other side of Terra, who was next to me. "No! My powers!" I recalled that his powers had an off switch-was Slade utilizing this? Or was it something different?

"None of you can use your powers," Slade said, his voice cold when many other villains would have been celebrating. "And now, I can look inside your minds and let my computers divine how your powers work. The human mind is a fascinating thing, my dears. Humans use only a little piece of it. But I've been studying Terra, and it's nothing supernatural that makes your powers what they are. Just a tiny glitch on your brains, and if I can open that up, I will be just like you.

"No. Not just like you better. With all of your powers, I will be unstoppable! You'll die, of course. Can't have this getting out to the Titans. Now, then, Hazel, I think I'll start with you."

I tensed. Before I had come, this universe was almost perfect. Everything turned out okay.

But I was not a part of this universe. And tight now, everything was not okay.

I jumped as two clamps bit into the sides of my head. I rustled around, trying to find a more bearable position. My efforts heeded nothing.

Then the room flashed as if the universe was changing.

_Drew and I were in the roomy Torchwood Hub. I had never been able to stand the behind the scenes pieces where there were camera crews and film directors roaming all over what I knew as a top-secret area. But now, aside from Jack and Ianto doing whatever it was Jack and Ianto did at this point in season one in Jack's office, the Hub was silent._

"_So, I never got to see that music video thing," Drew mentioned to me. _

"_It's still on Tosh's desk. I know how to work it. I don't understand it in the least, but I know how to work it," I said, having to actively make an effort to shut my rambling mouth._

"_Let's see, then," he said much more concisely, flashing me a grin. I grinned back goofily._

_I didn't make too much of a fool of myself setting up the player. This translates into flipping the on switch. "Put your thumb on here," I directed._

"_You too. Aren't the best ones the ones with two people?" he asked with a peculiar tone in his voice that I couldn't place._

"_Yeah, I guess so. But most people like to know their theme song before anything," I said._

"_I already have a theme song. It's the James Bond music. And I don't want that fantasy to be ruined by the stupid futuristic gizmo thingy playing the Teletubbies song."_

"_Well we couldn't have that, could we?" I said like an idiot. Then I did something even stupider. I put my thumb on it._

_The player came to life, the screen rising up. The thumb pad flashed red and we both removed our fingers, sitting back to watch._

_Then everything went to shit. I easily recognized the opening to Taylor Swift's "Teardrops on my Guitar." I should have known that this would be our song._

"Drew looks…at me…I…fake a smile so he won't see…"

_Okay, it was pretty cute. Just face shots of us smiling. _

"What I want…and I need…and…everything that we should be…"

_Taylor Swift, I hate your guts. These frames were slightly more incriminating. Me staring wistfully at Drew._

_By the time we were at the first rendition of _ "He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar," _my face was flaming red. Drew was watching the video and I couldn't glean anything from his expression. But he hadn't slapped me yet, so it wasn't too bad._

"So I drive home alone  
>As I turn out the light<br>I put his picture down  
>And maybe get some sleep tonight."<p>

_No, no, no, no, no. __Oh, shit. Drew can't see that, he can't. _

_I watched Drew as he watched me in one of my weakest moments, after that awful fight with my dad. No. He didn't have to know this! I was over that. It wasn't happening now. It was almost a year ago that I stared at his picture on the verge of tears at almost midnight, almost crying and holding a telephone._

_The rest of the video wasn't as bad, but worse than the beginning._

_After the last guitar chord, I fled. _

_Out the cog door, through the Tourist Office and into the Cardiff night._

_I still wasn't used to living in such proximity to such a huge body of water, and the smell and calm sound of the waves refreshed me as I leaned on the railing that looked over the bay._

_Drew came to find me. He was always too caring for his own good. I did my best to ignore him as he came to stand by my side. _

"_I don't care, you know," he finally said, breaking a surprisingly awkward silence. "Actually, it's kind of nice to think you care about me that much."_

_I finally glanced over at him. His position was identical to mine, one foot on the lower railing and both elbows on the upper one. "Thanks," was all I managed to get out. _

"_Thank you." The words were hushed, and for once I didn't even try to analyze them. No analysis was needed for a moment like this._

_Our lips met halfway by mutual consent. It was a soft kiss, the kind you see in movies when a veil of golden light surrounds the happy protagonists. It was the best moment of my life._

_When we finally broke apart, neither of us said anything for awhile. But this silence wasn't awkward; not at all. It was easy. Kind of like before, only better._

_After that moment, our song changed._

_And then it ended._

Terra watched in fright as Hazel let out a bloodcurdling, almost primal scream as Slade bent over her.

"A spark. Perhaps that is key," Slade mused, glancing at Terra for confirmation.

In that moment, Terra made a decision. "Stop it! What you're doing is cruel! We were willing to help you!" She struggled against her bonds.

"Yes, dear. Thank you for claiming I didn't watch the cameras. It was tremendously helpful for me to figure out your little plan before you had even fully thought of it yourselves."

"Why me? I stood by your side! I helped you!"

"Helped, young apprentice? You helped me? As I recall, you helped me almost get discovered time and time again. You helped those blasted Teen Titans more than you helped me." Slade stepped away from Hazel to strike Terra across the face.

Terra smiled even as a red welt stung her cheek. "I think you'll find that those blasted Titans don't need help," she said deviously, reverently praying she was right about the loose earth that was falling towards the back of the chamber.

Aqualad noticed too. "I'll think you'll find the Titans may want to drop in for a visit," he said, directing his words and careless tone at Slade.

Slade's head whipped around. Now the back of the lair was visibly shaking, and bits of earth rained down onto Slade's equipment.

From the surface, Raven continued to use her powers to tell Cyborg where to direct his Sonic Cannon. "A 45 degree angle down landing at the base of that tree," she stated, pointing to clarify. Cyborg complied, and the patch of ground the Titans were standing on slipped through the ground, bringing them downward and exposing the back half of Slade's lair to daylight.

"Game's up, Slade," Robin said, cold malice in his voice. "Teen Titans, GO!"

Slade leapt up onto one of the network of pipes crisscrossing his lair, dodging starbolts and explosive discs. Soon, he found the piece of pipe he was on enclosed in black energy and separated from the network. Chemicals gushed out from both severed ends, and the resulting material turned the entire room black. None of the Titans could see anything but Slade's eye, and they all converged on that.

Slade could hardly dodge the onslaught of attacks. But he did, and the smoke cleared, diffusing away into the open air until the room was hardly hazy.

"Cyborg, the machine!" Robin shouted while watching Beast Boy morph from a bat into a tiger in midair and land on Slade. Slade easily threw him off, and Robin stepped up to go hand-to-hand.

"On it!" Cyborg called, racing for the other side of the room while Slade was occupied. Hazel was pale and on the verge of hyperventilation when he ripped her wrist and then head clamps off. She remained unconscious on the metal chair.

_No time, _he thought forcing himself to leave her as she was. He freed Aqualad, Hot Spot and Terra in a similar manner. "Good to see you again," he said to the latter, flashing a grin. "Same to you," Terra said, leaping up to join the battle. Hot Spot powered up and did the same and Aqualad waved his hand and a flood of water gushed out of a pipe. Cyborg grinned and went back to join in the fight.

"_GO!" Jake yelled, and I dove toward the Visser's awful form in my kestrel morph. I ripped and tore until I was inside the creature's brain. It was dark, and darker. I tore deeper, peeling back layers. _

_At the core of his mind was one thing. Evil._

_The face of evil wore a double sided mask of dark and darker. _

_The evil was not the Visser. It was Slade. _

_I was inside Slade's mind._

I woke up screaming to find I was unbound and alone. I quickly shook the dark vision off myself and took stock of my surroundings. Aqualad, Terra, and Hot Spot were fighting with the Titans on the other side of the room.

I stood up, surprised at my body's total lack of weakness, and snapped my fingers.

The effect was instantaneous. The powers I'd had before mush have doubled, tripled in strength.

Without the faintest clue what I was doing, I made a ball with my hands and forced away all the oxygen atoms. I had in my hands a gaseous, toxic mix of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Like before, I threw it at Slade.

But this time, it didn't explode on him. It engulfed him in a vortex of nothingness.

I heard his cries as he was forced to his knees and then slumped on the ground, unconscious.

It didn't occur to me until long after I repealed the airless bubble that Slade shouldn't have been able to cry out. I hadn't been hearing him with my ears at all.

"Yeah, Hazel!" Beast Boy said once everyone had finished staring. Finally, I allowed myself to crack a smile.

Terra lifted us out and put the ground back where it was supposed to be. Nobody but me knew that Slade wasn't dead, and I sure wasn't going to tell them.

Slade's twisted mind and mine were bonded now, and I could do nothing to stop it. I had gone inside his mind in a deluded dream, and a part of me would stay there forever. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

Hot Spot and Aqualad went their separate ways after we left Slade's lair, but not before Robin had given Hot Spot a Titan communicator. Technically, he wasn't supposed to get one until _Winner Take All, _but I figured I could warn Robin about the game in advance and all would be okay.

Terra and I went back to the Tower with the rest of the Titans.

Flying back was a little awkward, but at the same time still as exhilarating as it had been the first time I had flown as a bird with the Animorphs. This thought made me glance at Beast Boy, flying as a bird beside Starfire. Was he one of things that the universe was compensating for? I knew him to be this way long before I entered the Animorphs universe, but it was another of those odd, inexplicable connections I made in my mind.

When we arrived at the Tower, everyone sat down on the couch in the common room. Robin, Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra, me. Terra and Beast Boy next to each other.

It occurred to me for the first time: Beast Boy and Terra. Terra had really liked him, if what had happened at the end of Betrayal and Aftershock had been for real.

With Best Boy out of the way, that was one step closer to my favorite non-canon pairing of all time.

I pushed my matchmaking thoughts from my head, however, when Robin spoke for the first time since inviting Terra and I back to the Tower. "Terra: nice to see you again. Hazel: Who the hell are you?"

"We saw the picture with you and the Animorphs," Raven said. "Cyborg said it was really them. Is this true?"

Concise, simple, yes or no question. The one that might change my life. "Yes."

"How?" Cyborg asked even more concisely. Really, you couldn't get much more concise than that.

"I'm not from a different planet," I started, not really thinking. "I'm from a different universe. And the Animorphs really do exist, on their own universe, where I was catapulted after an accident.

"My world is far behind me now. This is the third universe I've been to since leaving," I admitted, hesitantly checking faces to see if I could tell what my new friends were thinking.

"So you are from another universe?" Beast Boy asked, obviously awed. "I so called that!"

"Yeah," I said. Okay, I had played the alternate universe card, now why not just lay all my cards on the table? "But there's something else. On my world, I knew you."

"We existed on your world?" Robin asked, everyone else silently listening.

"No. Well, not really. You were a TV show. The Animorphs were a book series, as I assume they are here. And my other universe, the first universe I went to after my own, was another TV show."

Stunned silence greeted my exposition. Was that one too many cards?

"Say something?" I said meekly, sounding like Owen in Adam.

"A TV show?" Beast Boy burst out. "Who played me? Was he handsome?"

Not quite what I had been expecting, but leave it to Beast boy to break the ice. "I don't know. It was a cartoon."

Now Raven looked up at me. "You really expect us to believe that you're not only from another universe but you are meeting characters from a cartoon?"

I crossed my arms. She would hate this just as much as the Animorphs had, but I had to do it. "Trigon, Arella, Nevermore, Azareth, Rachel Roth, portal. Do you want any more? 'Cause I can. I know your past and your future. All of you."

"Whoa! What do you know about me?" Beast Boy asked eagerly while Raven sat in shock.

"Garfield," I whispered to him, knowing Terra could hear but the rest of the Titans couldn't. Then, louder, I continued "Dune Patrol, Africa, you love tofu, video games, practical jokes and big, dangerous animals."

Now all of the Titans were staring. "You weren't joking. You really do know everything about us," Robin said testily.

"Not everything. But a lot. On the world I come from, you guys were a five-season TV show with thirteen half-hour shows per season. Right now, you're in the middle of season two."

"What happens at the end of season five?" Raven asked.

"Nothing drastic. Actually, I've already changed that," I said, thinking of Terra. "Your universe is a kids' cartoon. Nothing that goes wrong ever stays that way, except for a few little pieces. One of them, one of those few things that went horribly, grotesquely wrong, is sitting beside me." I turned to address Terra directly. "A few months from now, I'm guessing, you would have been under Slade's control fully. He would have sent you to infiltrate the Teen Titans only under the guise that you were their friend while your loyalty remained to him. He did things to your mind, made you hate them. But now, it's never going to happen, because you're here."

I'm pretty sure the general response to that was something along the lines of "WTF?"

"I know everything about your universe," I said. "I can help you with this. With everything. Just believe me."

"So, the Animorphs universe," Cyborg finally said after a long awkward silence reigned for a moment. "Did you change things there?"

"Rachel survived," I said, knowing what he was really asking. "I went in her place. And I managed to open up a Sario Rip and ended up here." I hoped Cyborg remembered the terminology.

"You switched universes through a concept only possible on that universe?" he asked skeptically.

"If it's any help, that's how I got there from my first universe," I told him. "My friend there, the Doctor, explained it all to me, but in some parts of the, well, the everything, nothing is impossible. It's kind of like a blind spot in reality." Oh, how I wished the Doctor was here to explain to me why the hell I hadn't gotten home in the first place and why Drew wasn't with me.

"So what's our future like, all-seeing one?" Robin asked with a touch of bleak humor.

"Good," I said, unable to think of a better word. "A little unpredictable, at the moment. Terra changes a lot of things." The poor girl still looked as confused as hell. "You kill Slade, in the end," I explained. "Well, he comes back, through forces beyond any of your control, but it's important to the story."

"I'll kill him anyway!" Terra said angrily. Wow, this girl was prone to mood swings.

"Well, he has to die before the beginning of season four, but the how isn't all that important. But originally, Terra, you died, too."

Her eyes widened and I quickly reasserted myself. "But that's already changed," I said. "Anything can happen."

"But it's your decision what will," Raven said, sarcasm and skepticism playing in her voice.

"Nope. That's up to the universe. I'm just here to help things along."

"So, you were Slade's apprentice?" Beast Boy asked Terra questioningly, almost shyly.

"I was stupid," she said with malice. "I couldn't control my powers. Slade knew that. Slade utilized that. And, eventually…Slade changed that."

"You can control your powers now?" Beast Boy asked in surprise.

"Almost perfectly," she admitted. "Thanks to Slade. I know how to use my powers for evil. I know how to evade police, to steal things, to not care that I'm doing wrong." She paused. "I don't belong here."

Beast Boy knew that only the best words would comfort her now. Unfortunately, he had no clue what those words were. But he did what he could.

In the next second, Terra found herself being licked in the face by a green puppy. "Beast Boy! Get off!" she laughed.

Beast Boy complied and morphed back to his natural form, having achieved his mission of getting Terra to smile. "You belong here just as much as any one of us," he told her confidently.

She just smiled in return. "Thanks."

The Titans all dispersed to their separate corners of the tower after an awkward ending to my little revelation. Only Robin and Raven stuck around, doing something with the computers and reading respectively.

I busied myself by reorganizing the contents of my bag from when whichever Titan had felt it just fine to obliterate my privacy had messed everything up. It didn't look like they'd touched my laptop, and I took that out to see if I could get an internet connection in this universe, too. The Doctor had told me that it was calibrated to his universe after he played with it a little but would work almost anywhere. I just wanted to know if this fantasy cartoon world was as similar to his world as the Animorphs.

It worked. I hadn't used it much on the Animorphs world because it was way too high-tech for the nineties, but the connection had worked perfectly there.

My home screen hadn't changed since before I'd entered the Whoniverse and it still showed the picture Drew had photoshopped in art class in eighth grade.

It represented a chess board, but almost every square was a different color. In the center, a white square said "Random Shit Hazel Likes" in black writing and it fanned out from there.

The first thing I saw was the little square with the Teen Titans on it. I could think of people that the image would amuse. Doctor Who, Torchwood, Animorphs. Which one would be next, I found myself wondering morbidly.

I sat studying the image, Raven read her book- she had to be at the part where Paul met Chani- and Robin browsed the computer. Finally, Robin took a remote and turned music on to loosen the tense silence.

The music had a double effect. It took the edge of the disquiet silence of the room and a few seconds after it was turned on, Raven looked up and said "You know this book, right?"

"Yeah."

"I love Kynes death scene. The symbolism of him hearing his father's voice is brilliant, even though he never shows up again."

"I know. That's what makes it an epic, though. It's not so much the story that matters, it's the tone. What the author is trying to say is buried beneath all the glamour placed on the setting and the main characters, and it's only in parts like that, those seemingly random scenes, that show the real point of the book. There are just so many levels to it."

"I don't think I ever expected to meet anyone who could appreciate that," she said with a touch of humor. Finally, I had struck a chord. "But I think he shows that too in his descriptions of Arrakis, the way it draws you in and makes you stay."

"You're right. But with that, you have to look even deeper into the blatantly obvious to see the underlying implications. Okay, Arrakis is addictive, but that says so much about the place itself and the difference between Paul Atreides and Muad'Dib."

"You guys are making my head spin," Robin joked. "Would I like this book?"

"You wouldn't get it," Raven said. "And you don't have enough of an attention span to finish it." She closed the book and let Robin get a good look at its bulk.

"Ooh-kay, then. I'll leave the heavy reading to you," Robin replied, finally spinning around in his chair. "So what's your universe like, Hazel? The one you're from originally."

"Honestly? I don't know. I'm not sure if the stars in the sky there are all an illusion or what. The universe I lived in for more than fourteen years is the most boring universe I have ever encountered. There, there are no such things as superpowers. No aliens have ever visited Earth, and anything science fiction is left to movie producers. I don't know if my universe is just behind developmentally or some sort of equilibrium, with other prominent universes portrayed as forms of media," I said, surprised at my own forwardness.

"Would you go back if you had the chance?" Raven asked curiously.

"I've thought about it and no," I told her, again in pure truth. "I used to want to go back more than anything, but I've realized how much there is out here, everywhere. I always wanted adventure when I was a kid, and now I have it. I lost some things, but gained more."

"Well, then," Robin said. "How would you like to be an official Teen Titan?"

He held out a communicator and I accepted it. I had never thought of being heavy, but it wasn't as light as it looked. It was like a beacon of acceptance.

"That," I said, "would be amazing."

"What can you tell us about our future?" Raven asked, having abandoned Dune in favor of our conversation a while ago.

I mentally ran through it in my head. "Technically, you guys are somewhere in season two, between episodes three and," I counted on my fingers, "eight. Terra's timeline has pretty much gone to shit already, since she's supposed to be Slade's apprentice at the season two finale, so that's going to be majorly affected in a very good way." Wow. I hadn't been this talkative around anyone since Drew. "And just so I can get an even more exact knowledge of your timeline, have you guys seen the movie Wicked Scary?"

"Yep. Been through that," Robin winked at Raven, who blushed and turned away. "Which episode is that in?"

"Season two, episode five. For the record, my younger brother always loved that one," I said, directing my humor at Raven to draw her back in. "So, what does Killer Moth and Kitten mean to you?"

Robin shuddered. "Been there, too."

"Kay then, what about Star's transformation? That was the episode right before Terra comes back in the series."

"That was just last week," Robin said. "Excuse me for a few minutes. I have to go make sure Beast Boy and Starfire aren't mobbing Terra."

"Terra can handle herself," I told them, describing some of the highlights of our encounter with Slade.

"I'm just going to go check up on them," he said, leaving the room.

Silence reigned for awhile before Raven spoke up. "You knew all that about me. How?"

I debated how to answer. "The prophecy comes true at the end of season four. But it's not the end of everything. Your friends save you. And I don't think I should tell you much more because it's a very delicate thing, and if my telling you about it changes anything, it could be the end of the world. You made all the right decisions. It all turned out fine."

She gave what I knew was a rare genuine smile. "Thanks."

Robin chose that moment to walk back into the room. "Terra and the others are playing volleyball up on the roof. Do either of you guys want to play?"

"Uh, no," was Raven's semi-sarcastic response. "I'm at a good part in my book."

"Kay," Robin said breezily, because he had every reason to expect that. "Hazel?"

"I guess so," I said. Why the hell not? I was with the Teen Titans. Fuck it, I _was _a Teen Titan. "Sounds good."

"We," Robin announced while we sat around the bar like table eating surprisingly good pasta. "Are going out tonight. As friends. Like normal people."

His proposition was greeted by silence.

"Why?" Cyborg asked, genuinely perplexed.

"Because we kicked Slade's butt today, Terra and Hazel are here and safe, and we deserve it," Robin listed.

"Well, I'm in," Terra said, breaking another awkward silence.

"I shall go and up the party with you!" Starfire exclaimed. We all took a moment to translate and then smiled at her alien antics. It was funny here how no one even tried to correct her. The Animorphs had always been trying to make Ax more human, but here, Starfire was just Starfire and everyone accepted that.

There was another difference in our universes. Acceptance, diversity- all that random meaning of life shit you hear about was different from universe to universe. Reality dictated people's mindsets. There was a good argument against religion.

"Hazel? You in?" Robin asked.

"Sure," I said. I had never really been one for parties, but what could possibly go wrong?

I had stopped even letting myself think those words a long time ago, but on this universe, the question really could be left up to the gods of rhetorical-ism.

"What manner of social gathering do we plan to attend?" Starfire asked.

"A high school dance," Robin said smugly.

"Another one?" Raven asked with quiet amusement.

"Yup, but this time, we're going to be going as normal high schoolers, normal people. No costumes, not even talking about evil-"

"Until the dance gets ambushed by bad guy of your choice," Raven corrected.

"Was that really necessary?" Beast Boy asked. "Now it's really gonna happen!"

"We've already saved the world once today," Robin said. "There is absolutely no indication that anything is going to happen tonight."

"Whatever you say," Raven intoned.

"Um, I know this is kind of stupid, but I don't exactly have anything to wear to a dance," Terra said. I didn't either, but I had planned to see if Starfire could lend me anything from her Mall of Shopping instead of voicing this to everyone.

"That's fine. You can just borrow something from Star or" he glanced at Raven "Star. She can show you after dinner."

"Oh yes, friend! You must do the borrowing of one of my spoils of the mall of shopping!" Starfire said in her usual friendly way.

"Well, the dance starts at eight, so we'd best all go get ready," Robin informed us. We all dismissed ourselves from the table.

I sort of trailed behind Star and Terra as they made their way to Star's room. "Do you need a nice piece of clothing to wear as well?" Starfire asked me.

"That would be great," I told her truthfully. "What I'm wearing right now is about the extent of my wardrobe."

Starfire put a finger on a little sensor on her door and it slid open. I had never seen the scanners on the TV series, but I suspected that it was just too unconventional for them. The door opened up to reveal a room with light pink walls, pinker curtains, and an even pinker comforter on the bed, where I largely suspected the sheets and perhaps even the mattress were pink. It made me want to vomit.

"You have a beautiful room," I commented, hopefully pleasing Starfire. She had of course taken a liking to me, but I had to get on her good side before I settled in and started getting blithely sarcastic with her and the others.

"Why thank you!" Starfire exclaimed, and for the first time ever I realized that Starfire's Tamaranian accent sounded almost British. I had seen most episodes of this show at least twice and never noticed that. Well, one thing about this universe: I was constantly learning new things.

"Holy crap. _This _is your closet?" Terra asked rhetorically, eyes wide and sounding astonished. She had found a door on the other side of the room (pink, of course) that led to a stunning walk in closet. The sides were fully covered by mirrors, but they were obscured by racks of mostly pink and purple clothes on three sides.

We stepped inside, and I winced as I caught sight of myself in one of the mirrors for the first time all day. Holy. Shit. My t-shirt was mud stained, and there was a blackened fray on one side that I have no clue how it came to be there. My jeans were in no better condition, and my morphing suit didn't matter since I had no reason to be wearing that anymore anyway.

But holy shit. I looked like a mess. I might just have to throw away these sneakers and somehow buy new ones, and I wasn't ready to think about my normally straight, sleek hair yet. (Right now, it was anything but straight, sleek, and all other positive words used to describe hair.)

"What are you going to wear?" Terra asked Star. I realized that a school dance would be a less than normal setting for even Terra. Little was known about her history, but she had to be about thirteen years old, fourteen at the most. The last school dance I had attended had been with the Animorphs, and before that, I hadn't been to one since my second year of middle school on my universe. Drew and his mother had practically made me go, and I had adamantly refused to attend another one.

"Perhaps this," Starfire said, bouncily pulling a pink garment off one of the racks. "Or this!" An equally pink garment emerged. "My clothing from the mall of shopping is your clothing!"

Terra stepped up to one of the clothing racks and pulled down a pink dress. I wondered if she was feeling as dizzy as I was about the day. I hadn't slept in about thirty hours, as it had been night when I crept onto the ship in the Animorphs universe and since then had been unconscious for about ten minutes between bouts of randomness. Terra, too, had had her world rocked today. She had begun the day as Slade's servant, and now she was in Slade's enemy's bedroom, picking out a pink dress.

I walked over to where I saw a spot of something not pink and pulled down a deep purple top. I quickly set it back, not wanting to go through the trouble of finding a matching skirt. The next blob of not pink was a few steps over, and it was a dark green dress. A little short, even though Starfire was a good six inches taller than me, but it would do.

Terra had already donned a light pink, sparkly _thing _and was spinning around in front of a mirror as Starfire giggled. I quickly slipped off my outer clothing and soon to be forgotten morphing suit and slipped the surprisingly soft green piece of fabric over myself. It fit right, and I smoothed my hair a little bit before stepping in front of a mirror.

"Oh Hazel, you look beautiful!" Starfire said, reminding me of Jon. Over time, I had become deaf to his overstated compliments as I saw I would have to do with Starfire. My hair looked like something had made a nest out of it, and you could see the outline of where my t-shirt had been because of the dirt that covered my face, neck, and forearms. But the dress was really pretty.

"Thank you so much," I said.

"Yeah, this is the nicest thing I've worn in, well, just about ever," Terra said freely.

Starfire stepped in front of the mirror as well, and I reflected on how much circumstances could change. I was in a world of good and evil, heroes and villains, superpowers and a bunch of other shit I didn't even really know about yet. But here I was, standing in front of a mirror with two friends, getting ready to go to prom. A scenario I would never have thought myself to be in on my old universe. I had always expected that if I were to go to another school dance again ever, Drew would have to ask me. As a date. I had never been part of a group of girls, but now, standing with Star and Terra, I decided that I loved it.

I let myself be the last one in the bathroom, and dawdled over washing up and yanking what I hoped was a communal hairbrush through my hair. I even put on a little of the makeup I somehow still had in my bag from…it must have been the last school dance. With the Animorphs. But when I came out of that bathroom, with straight hair, my face flushed from getting it that way, a few touches of random makeup (Rachel had done mine last time, I was scared to put on too much for the fear of irreparably screwing up), a pretty dress which I had found out was more of a turquoise color in the stark fluorescent lighting of the hallways rather than the soft forest green it had seemed in the slightly pinkish glow of Star's room, and high heels which were a few sizes too big for me but I figured were soft enough not to do harm, I felt like a normal person.

Everyone was already gathered in the common room when I came down in the slightly pretentiously high tech elevator.

"Kay, we're all going by regular names tonight," Robin said. "Not even real names. It doesn't matter. I'll be going by Jesse."

"I am to be called Sara," Starfire announced. "In honor of the very nice lady of the sales I met at the mall of shopping."

"I'll just go by Victor." I knew, more from fan fiction than anything, that this was Cyborg's real name. "It's easiest."

"I'll be Nathan," Beast Boy said proudly, obviously having been saving this name up for a while. In fan fictions, he always went by Garfield and Starfire went by Kori, but very few people told what I had come to see as the truth in fan fiction.

"Rachel," Raven said concisely. She was wearing a deep blue dress that wasn't really all that different from her usual outfit, but looked surprisingly girly. It contrasted with her purple and blue hair, but the two vastly different shades somehow looked good together.

"Katherine," Terra said, probably pulling a name completely out of the blue. Shit, it was my turn.

"Hazel?" Robin asked.

"If Hazel's not your real name, you can use your real one," Beast Boy suggested, trying and failing to be helpful.

"Uh, I'll go by Lena," I said, plucking the name out of the blue. It occurred to me then that I hadn't even thought to say Alex. The Animorphs had called me Alex, except for Jake and sometimes Marco as a joke. But on this universe, I had automatically re-adopted the name. It was Drew's name for me, so therefore it was my name. "And for the record, Hazel is my real name."

"Hazel isn't your real name," Raven- _Rachel- _stated as we exited the T-car at what was obviously a high school in the midst of a dance.

"Yes, it is. It's been the most important name in my life since I was about eight years old, and I left my old name behind a few universes ago."

Raven nodded. "You know all of our names, don't you?"

I surveyed the group. "I don't know Terra's. And I can't pronounce Starfire's. But pretty much, yeah." I felt like it would be a bad idea to lie right now, and the information was obvious and useless anyway.

"What's Beast Boy's? I know you told Terra earlier." I found myself wondering if Raven's apparent knowledge of everything was the result of her being an empath or simply great observational skills.

"Sorry, you're not allowed to find out about it until season five," I said teasingly. Raven just rolled her eyes.

"Is it really that important?" The question was pointed, probing for something deeper.

"I have no clue. Probably not, but I can never know. Telling you could cause some weird chain of events that sets off an apocalypse, for all I know. I'd prefer to not risk all of our lives on petty stuff like that."

"Of course," Raven said, surprisingly not sarcastic sounding. Finally, someone who understood. The Animorphs had always wanted me to give them little stupid hints about their future and to Torchwood Drew and I had given the temporally locked capsules. Here, it seemed like it was going to be better.

The dance was extremely awkward. Beyond awkward. I have never been a hell of a social butterfly, and I wasn't really planning to start now.

I mostly walked around, picking at pretzels because I knew that it was pretty much impossible to spike pretzels and the one sip of the punch I'd drunk had tasted suspicious. Starfire and Terra were caught up in the heat of things, whirling around with boy after boy. I was glad Terra was having fun. She'd had a hell of a day.

Last I saw, Raven was in a corner talking to a group of Goths from the schools that were at the dance (Robin had chosen perfectly- this dance was a merge between a private boys' school and their girls' counterpart. Not everyone knew each other, so we fit right in as there was a crazy mix of the two main schools plus boyfriends and girlfriends from outside the district in attendance.) Cyborg and Beast Boy were making fools of themselves on the dance floor, giggling girls around them.

"I figured you wouldn't really be the type for a school dance," Robin said, coming up behind me.

I nibbled the pretzel stick I was currently holding and nodded affirmatively. "Never was. Uh, what about you?" Okay, I sounded like a socially awkward idiot. No surprise there.

"I've always been more of a watcher," Robin said. I noticed for the first time that he was wearing a pair of sunglasses in place of his mask. "I like to see people having fun, be in their atmosphere. It helps remind me of what we're fighting for."

"My friend Jack said something similar to me once. I didn't agree then. But I understand that now," I said conversationally. "It's about everyone else."

Robin looked at me like he was about to ask for elaboration, but another voice sounded from behind me before he could say anything.

"God, some people are effing creeps, you know that? This dance is completely pointless, Jesse."

It was Raven, having abandoned Goth Extravaganza in favor of talking to us boring old wet blankets.

"Actually, Lena and I were just discussing the opposite," Robin told her. "Look at Sara and Katherine, Nathan and Vic. They're having fun, taking time for themselves. That's the point."

"Hm," Raven grunted noncommittally. She looked around. "I guess you're right."

I guess it was from that point forward that the group was cut in two. The mature and immature sides. They, we, were still a team, but there was a line drawn now.

We all left the party exhausted but exhilarated, and for a long while after, we all stayed in the common room, all too wired to go to sleep. Finally, at nearly one in the morning, Robin decided to officially call it a night. At this point, I was running purely on adrenaline and pretzels and whatever the hell was in that one tiny sip of punch I drank. Cyborg showed Terra and I to a guest bedroom, which I previously hadn't known existed in this tower, and I took a shower before going to bed. I officially decided that everything in this place had the little T logo on it. Even Torchwood hadn't been that obsessed with their logo, and the Animorphs hadn't even had one until I'd showed them what it was.

It was almost two am when I climbed into bed. Terra was already asleep, still wearing her uniform. I took out my iPod after re-donning my morphing suit, which I had become accustomed to sleeping in. There was a wall socket by my bed, and I plugged the device in- it had run out of battery long ago in the woods, where we didn't have access to running water, let alone electricity and wall sockets.

The woods. The clearing. The Animorphs. What was happening to them now? Had they won? I had destroyed the Visser. I had saved Tom- I hoped. How far Ax's explosion had reached into the ship, I had no way of knowing.

I was gone to them now. They would think that I had died on that ship along with everything else in the room. I could only hope that one of them, probably Ax, would deduce that some of the items in my backpack would not have been totally destroyed in the explosion, and the fact that no fragments would be found would suggest to them that I had again swapped universes. I could only hope.

I went to the music videos section on my iPod, and I subconsciously felt myself being drawn to the Teardrops on my Guitar video. Me and Drew. That night…this video was how it all started. I had no intention of going anywhere near the one that showed me how it ended. Why I'd even downloaded it I wasn't sure. It was masochistic of me to make myself see that cover image every time I went in to view happier times.

I watched the video, recalling the vision earlier. Was it a vision? A hallucination? A fragment of memory, tripped or triggered by Slade's mind reading machine?

Slade. The other vision. Going into his mind. Thank heavens that it didn't seem to be a permanent bond. No longer could I feel him in the back of my mind from a subconscious, idiotic choice. No, it felt as though the psychic side of my mind had opened a little wider in general, maybe from the encounter with Slade, maybe from this universe in general.

On every universe, time passes. Things begin, things change, and things end. Not necessarily in that order, but in my reasoning, everything that ends has a beginning somewhere. And it's common knowledge that everything ends. Today, that had all happened. The Animorphs and I had ended. The Teen Titans and I had begun. And oh, boy. Things had changed. For them, for me, for the universe.

I just hoped that I would be able to keep up.

It seemed like I was so used to functioning on no sleep, I didn't even need any anymore. Despite the fact that I'd jumped from midnight to eleven in the morning the day before and hadn't gotten to bed until almost two am last night, I woke up at about twenty to seven in the morning.

Despite my inadequate sleep, I felt unduly refreshed. I changed into my second pair of jeans- I'd have to ask where they kept the laundry facilities in this place- and another t-shirt. Blue this time. Blue was the color of today. Nothing crazy, nothing strange. Blue. Calm.

I walked out of the room (the door opened without me doing anything. I would have to remember to ask Cyborg how these worked) and stepped into the hallway, walking purposefully toward the "Roof Access" door I'd noticed at the end of the hallway last night. Turns out, the very oddly shaped tower really did have some sort of organizational system. I had yet to figure most of it out, but the common room was on the ground floor and all the bedrooms were on the level that crossed the T shape. I wondered if I even wanted to know the square footage of this place.

The door to the roof opened for me as well, and for the first time I wondered if they were just automatic, like the doors to grocery stores and almost everything else in the world. The late realization made me feel pretty stupid, but all automatic doors I'd ever seen were see-through and had two sides that parted in the center.

The roof wasn't exactly like it had been in the cartoon either. Playing volleyball yesterday, I'd noticed that there was a part of the roof that looked like it was meant to be habitable, with the elevator contraption in the center of that, and the rest of the roof was smooth and silvery. The area meant for people had a knee-high boundary around it, which I found was perfect for sitting on, my legs dangling over the side, looking out at the ocean and the sunrise. I realized that it had been a long time since I had ever been afraid of heights. Maybe my whole life had been buildup for me having this power, and I'd been preparing for yesterday forward forever. Maybe that was why it came so naturally.

Right then, I felt my power as though it was humming beneath my skin, waiting to be unleashed. It was an amazing feeling, much like the adrenalin plus alien chemical fueled high we had all gotten after morphing.

Without really thinking about it, I stood up on the ledge I had been sitting on and dove off into the sky. After falling about ten feet, I snapped my fingers and my outstretched hands landed on a boundary of air. I pushed off as though doing a handspring, and found that I didn't need to snap my fingers again to create another pocket of solidified air that I landed upright on, letting it raise me to the roof level.

Grinning at this newfound facet of my powers, I launched myself off me air surfboard and made another, flipping through the sky and using my power to catch myself. It was closer to controlled falling than flying in the technical sense of the word, but as I landed on my feet and back flipped on to another of my pieces of sky, it felt even better.

I was dead in the middle of one of my self-created routines when I realized someone was standing on the roof, watching. I landed on the surfboard I had been planning to, and, hoping to get this right, hopped off before letting it dissipate in midair and did a forward flip, landing easily on the tarmac top of the roof.

"Looks like you're getting the hang of that," Robin commented breezily. I should have known he would be up here this early. Maybe I'd wanted him to see.

"I had no idea I could do that." Shit, my hair was probably a mess again. How was it that the characters in the show always managed to keep it perfect? "The laws of physics on my old universe are very different from the laws of physics here." It wasn't a joke.

"Really? It's weird to think that things could be that different," Robin said. "It would be so interesting to see your universe."

I knew he was just making conversation, but I had to battle down the urge to get defensive. "Same for me, now. Now that I've seen all this, in the other universes. I think it would be extremely boring."

Robin shrugged. "You know more than me, I guess. What do you think of the sunrise?"

"It's great. I was always more of a fan of sunsets, but I don't think I've ever seen a good sunrise over water. But it's really nice."

There was no conversation to be had, and the silence that followed was less awkward anyway.

Time passes on each and every universe, so time passed. Two weeks, to be exact. Two weeks of volleyball and missions and waffles and Robin giving me a skirt that I wasn't sure whether to call bronze or gold (the kind with shorts underneath that tennis and lacrosse players wear) to go with my black leotard I had used as a morphing suit once upon a time and had taken to wearing for missions because it was easier to fight with my power, as I had come to find, when I was wearing something nearly skintight.

There were nightmares, too. Nightmares of what the Doctor had called the Void and the Animorphs called Zero Space and what I had taken to calling the abyss. Nightmares of Drew slipping away from me, and my not being able to hear him as he shouted my name. Nightmares of missions I'd had with the Animorphs, the things that had become real life nightmares for them, the things I hadn't been able to stop. And even nightmares of Slade's lair, of the fear I felt at my mind being violated. I didn't even have nightmares about my father anymore. There was just too much else.

_The stuff of music videos, _I thought ironically after waking up from one such dream. It was of Torchwood this time. In it, Jack had lost one of the temporally locked capsules I'd left for him. Then their universe exploded. And then I woke up. It was illogical, but I hoped more than almost anything that Jack was keeping those capsules safe.

I had come to realize that my powers worked best in the early morning, and training then, in the sky with the sunset behind or in front of me, had become a routine. My routines had been drilled down into pure gymnastic precision instead of the crazy, uncomplicated feats I had felt so proud of at the beginning.

Robin watched me often, and I found that I didn't mind anymore. It was kind of nice to have him watch me, critique me, give me pointers. I had never gotten enough of that from anywhere else. Robin reminded me of Jake in many ways, but they were opposites in that Jake was interested in keeping his team happy, while Robin actually helped them learn to perform better. They could both learn a few lessons from each other.

One day, I stood on the roof and coordinated air while Robin hopped from surface to surface. It was hard to concentrate, but it worked well for him with his talents.

We went downstairs together at about eight in the morning that day to see if anyone else was up to torch breakfast. For the first time, earlier than I had ever seen, everyone was downstairs in the common room. And on top of that was another abnormality. There were golden brown pancakes, not overcooked, not undercooked, not blue or another strange and suspicious color, and probably not even filled with tofu.

And no one had eaten them. This was definitely a first.

"Robin, Hazel. I need to talk to you guys," Terra said, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain.

"What about, Terra?" Robin was somewhere in the middle of saying when Starfire could no longer contain herself and jumped lithely over the couch to talk into Robin's face.

"Dear friend Terra is leaving us yet again to embark on some entirely unnamed quest for nothing and you must stop her!" Starfire said, going at about a hundred words per second.

"Whoa, there, Star. Terra, you're leaving?" He sounded surprised, but not angry or even disapproving.

"Yes. It's not going to be like last time, though. I'll have the communicator; I'll be able to talk to you guys. But I'm not meant to be stuck down in one place. Trust me, if I have ever belonged anywhere except the earth itself, it's here."

"Good for you," Robin said. "If it's what you think is best for you, you can leave."

"You'll come back to visit us all the time, though, right?" Beast Boy asked, his voice more vulnerable than I had ever heard it.

"Of course!" Terra said emphatically. "I love you guys! You're all the best friends I've ever had. I'll visit all the time. But you don't need me like the earth does. I'll talk to you on the communicator every day! I don't want to run away again."

"I fully support that, Terra," Robin said coolly but not in an unfriendly way. "And you know you're always welcomed back here."

"Thank you so much. For everything." The blonde girl looked around. "All of you. And don't you worry, this won't be the last you see of me."

With that, she back flipped out of an open window behind her and was caught by a slab of stone she'd summoned. We all watched her fly towards the city.

"Well, that was unexpected," Raven said dryly, having not looked up from her book throughout the exchange.

But it wasn't. In the series, we'd had one episode to really get to know Terra before Slade had gotten his evil claws into her. But from that, I could divine that she would be happier out there, with nothing and no one to tie her down. Maybe eventually she would grow up. But for now, the best place for Terra was the earth and the sky.

Raven cornered Robin in the common room when all of the other Titans had gone their respective ways. Starfire had somehow roused Hazel into going to the mall with her and Cyborg had gone to forcibly grab Beast Boy stop his constant moping in his room which had been going on all day.

"I don't like her," Raven mentioned as Robin rummaged through the fridge looking for something that was neither healthy, blue, or even remotely resembling pudding and throwing many of the blue objects in the trash as he did so. Finding a bowl of pudding that had been painstakingly saran wrapped, he hesitated for a second and threw that in the trash as well.

"Don't like who? Terra? It's not like we really need to worry about that anymore," Robin said, finding a jar of peanut butter. Unscrewing it, he found that all of the peanut butter he could see was covered in something blue and fuzzy.

"Not Terra. Hazel," Raven said hesitantly, knowing that Robin wouldn't understand her suspicion.

"Hazel? Why? She's nice- even you seem to think so." His voice gained a trace of humor.

"Sure. She's nice. She's too nice. Somehow, this girl has managed to connect with every single one of us. Right now, she's out shopping with Star. The Hazel I talk to sometimes is a girl who would never voluntarily go to a mall."

"Star's very persuasive. Maybe she's just trying to fit in," Robin suggested, smiling triumphantly as he pulled out a bag of popcorn from the back of a cupboard. The expiration date wasn't for another two months. He tore the plastic off the bag and popped it in the microwave.

"Yeah, but that's not the point. She's fitting in too well. She knows everything about us, Robin. What if she has an ulterior motive?"

"So that's what this is about." Robin said, thoughtfully listening to popcorn pop.

"I'm just saying, we should be careful. Plus, we know almost nothing about her. And she knows everything there is to know about us."

"I don't want to suspect her or anything like that unless we have a reason to," Robin said firmly. "She's our friend; she's saved all our lives. Give her the benefit of the doubt, at least."

"Why? We know _nothing _about her."

"Sure we do. She came from a different universe where our lives are on a TV show-"

"Yeah, but that's about us. Not her. What do we know about _her?_"

"She was teleported into another universe from hers, and from there went to ours when she was trying to get back home."

"Wrong. You skipped one. Her very existence defies all laws of physics as we know them-"

"You break the laws of physics on a daily basis," Robin pointed out.

"Not that way. You know what I mean."

"The universe thing." Robin paused. "Still, I think we know enough about her to trust her. She definitely wasn't lying about her powers being new to her; I've seen how much she's improved already."

"What's her favorite color?" It was a pointed question, effectively putting a stop to Robin's rambling. Without waiting for a response, Raven asked "What's her name?"

"Her name is Hazel like mine is Robin. And we're going to stay away from that."

"She knows your real name, doesn't she?" Raven asked, hardly bothering to phrase it as a question.

"Yeah."

The microwave dinged, and Robin took the bag out and dumped the steaming contents into a bowl. He gestured to it freely with his hand, and Raven, thus invited, picked up a few kernels to munch on.

"Hey, her iPod's over here," Robin commented, pointing to another side of the counter. One of the ear buds was hanging down from the counter top. Raven walked over and picked it up, pressing a button to turn it on. She started scrolling through it.

"Now that's an invasion of privacy," Robin warned, but it came through more humorous than warning.

"So? It's not like there are any more ways for her to invade our privacy. Hey, she's got Evanessence on here."

"I really, really wouldn't have pegged her as the type to listen to metal. What else is on there?"

"She's got everything. Rock, pop, metal, country, alternative, even one random classical piece."

"Can I see it?" Robin asked, Raven's justification and his own curiosity winning over his initial foreboding. Raven handed the iPod over.

"Hey, she's got Snow Patrol. That's like my favorite band."

"I know." Raven quickly cursed herself for making this random comment and not thinking before she spoke, and there was an awkward silence for a few seconds. "Does she have any music videos? We can see if she subscribes to any of the constant scandalous shit that the music video industry has turned into."

"She's got eleven," Robin said, navigating to that section of the iPod. He accidentally clicked an extra time, and a video started playing. By unspoken consent, the two Titans each grabbed an ear bud and listened.

Neither of them had ever heard the pop- country song that was playing, but it quickly became apparent that this was no normal music video.

The first image on the screen was of Hazel's face.

Robin paused the iPod on that, and Raven commented "Okay. That was unexpected."

"Let's just watch it. It could just be something she made with her friends."

"The quality's too good. Play it."

Robin complied, and the two of them sat through the Taylor Swift song, the video featuring Hazel and a blonde boy who looked about her age.

"Those camera angles were just too good to be true," Robin observed. "Either that's professionally made, or not real."

"It couldn't be professionally made. Every music video I've ever seen has featured the singer. Taylor Swift and Hazel couldn't be more different," Raven countered.

"We could ask her. And if she won't tell us, then I'll start worrying, like you said. There's probably a great explanation." Robin shifted back on the iPod and clicked on the second music video, which happened to be set to Chasing Cars, a Snow Patrol song Robin liked. The video was the same way, with Hazel and the blonde kid. The backgrounds were usually faded, so it was hard to glean anything about where they were and what they were doing as Raven was trying to do. But it was clear in each video that Hazel and the other kid had been together at some point.

"She's never even mentioned him," Raven said over the music at one point. Just then, the ear buds were yanked out of both their ears and the iPod zoomed out in front of them, almost hitting the TV then changing direction to land in Hazel's hand behind them.

They hadn't even heard her walk in. But now they could almost hear the steam coming out of her ears.

Robin held up his hands in a true surrendering position. "Hazel, we didn't mean to, we're sorry, it was just sitting there…"

"What did you see?" Her voice was cold and slightly menacing. Hazel realized that she'd learned that tone from Jake.

"Just a couple of the videos. Who's the blonde kid?" Robin couldn't believe how controlled Raven's voice sounded.

"None of your business," Hazel snapped as she stormed out of the room. "And it would be nice if you learned it."

Okay, fine, I overreacted when I saw Robin and Raven with my iPod. But I had a right. That thing was almost the only thing I had left of Drew, of the Whoniverse, of before even that. That iPod was mine and therefore not to be touched.

"_Who's the blonde kid_?" Raven had said, in a voice only a truly sarcastic person such as I would be able to divine was sarcastic.

"_My best friend for almost my whole life,"_ I replied in my mind. _"The blonde kid and I went through the barrier between universes together and our lives changed irrevocably as one. The blonde kid is almost a part of me now. The blonde kid helped me survive on the Whoniversal earth when I didn't want to. The blonde kid saved my life time and time again, and half the time, on the real world, he didn't even know it." _I paused in my sarcastic thought response. _"And I wish I could have told him that."_

I don't know what exactly led me to the roof. It was deserted right now, as it usually was at this time of day except when Cyborg rounded us all up for a team volleyball game. I carelessly threw the iPod up in the air, quickly snapping my fingers to make sure it drifted down on to the soft sand of the volleyball court. My fragile little piece of memorabilia landed in a heap, the blue device itself nestled in the sand in a nest of cord from the headphones. Then I jumped up and waved my arms. A breeze billowed under me, enough to lift me several feet in the sir without further effort. I wasn't sure why my powers tended to work better when I was feeling a strong emotion. Hell, there were enough emotionally driven powers on this planet for a universe.

I worked with my power, using the wind as a sword, a shield, a surfboard, for lack of a better word. I had come to find that surfing was easier than flying, and even looked better (though of course I didn't care about that…end sarcasm here) because flying with a breeze carrying me entire body not only destroyed my hair, I tended to lose my balance and it was difficult to stay aloft on a bit of breeze. Nope, I was a surfer girl.

I attempted some tricks I knew to be Terra's, humming Defying Gravity from Wicked as I did so. That's what I was doing. Defying gravity. I was flying. I was in the air, with no fear of falling, with nothing but pure air under my feet.

I spent almost half an hour playing around and letting my frustration out before I was calm enough to again face the interior of the tower. I coasted down, flipping backwards off of my surfboard and landing on the volleyball court sand on my hands, doing a half handspring (a gymnastic move I had just made up involving a handspring that starts on the hands instead of the feet) and landing next to my iPod.

I picked it up, carefully coiling the cord around the precious piece of metal, and squeezed it in my hand. Sometimes I didn't even need to see Drew to remember him.

Cyborg came to my now private room at about five o'clock to see how I was doing and ask what kind of Chinese food I liked. I told him egg rolls and rice as I admired his big brother complex. It was definitely something I could recognize, growing up with three younger siblings. The twins, Isabelle and Colin, had been almost two years old when our mom died. Sam had been six, and I nine. From there, it was a downward spiral, and I learned to play parent. I could admire that kind of complex, even if I didn't subscribe to it anymore.

A few minutes after the door slid shut behind him, I turned my iPod off- I'd been listening to music and playing Vortex- and finally went downstairs.

The rest of the team was in the common room, Cyborg on the phone with a Chinese restaurant, Beast Boy and Robin playing some car racing video game, Raven reading, Starfire making a mess of the kitchen. Ah, that was why we were ordering in. I walked over and sat down on an unused sector of the couch and let myself feel my dendrites curl up and die as I watched the pointless video game.

"What other games do you guys have?" I asked when I was doing all I could not to run screaming out of the room. This was the only thing I'd ever seen them play, on the TV show and here.

"This is the only good one," Beast Boy said, grinding his teeth and pushing his fingers down on the buttons almost faster than my eyes could follow.

"The rest are in the cabinet to the left of the game station shelf," Robin said, still equally focused on the screen.

I got up to look, merely for something to do. The cabinet was easy enough to find, with the game station being the most advertised thing in the room, but I didn't expect the avalanche of video game cases that fell on to the floor the second I opened it.

I registered the games as I picked them up. There was some sporty stuff, like Madden and some weird tennis game. I had never understood how it was possible to play a sport with a controller. Of course, you were talking to a serious athlete who had played a live sport almost every day of my life since the beginning of seventh grade. There were more car racing games, which I barely looked at, and then one of the three video games I was interested in- Rock Band.

The instruments, on a closer look, were inside the cabinet, their boxes gathering dust. I pulled them out and started assembling them. Rock Band had been something I'd played with Drew before his mom had tried to force the real guitar on both of us so we stopped playing the game so we wouldn't give her any ideas. It had always been one of my favorites, along with the only two other semi active games I knew- Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, both of which I'd always destroyed Drew's records at.

"Hey, I remember buying that game," Cyborg said fondly, suddenly standing over me. "None of could ever figure out how to set up that drum set, so we never played it."

I clipped to foot pedal into its proper position, patted the drum set, and set the fully assembled instrument at Cyborg's feet. "In all of history, there have been three video games I've ever had any interest in. This is one of them. Can we play it?"

"Yo! Dudes! Turn off the car game! Hazel's got Rock Band set up!" Cyborg said. To my great surprise, Beast Boy not only turned away from the TV to verify this, he dropped his controller and eagerly went over to switch the game station game.

I threw the disc to Beast Boy, and he caught it and put it in the CD slot of the game station. He then proceeded to set up the guitar, microphone, and plug in the drum set.

Now, I have to say I was actually smiling as this took place. I'm not one of those people who is huge on openly expressing emotions so pointlessly as that when I can't possibly gain anything from it, but I allowed myself a few exceptions to that and Rock Band was one of them.

"Dibs on guitar!" Robin called out.

"Drums!" Beast Boy hollered after him.

"Whoa, now. Hazel set it up, so she gets first pick," Cyborg mediated.

"I'll take guitar. Sorry," I said. What the hey, it had always been my favorite.

The first round, Robin took the drums and Beast Boy sang. Yep, that was one hell of a sight. After a few more songs, I pretty much threw the guitar at Raven, who still had her nose in a book at that point. She was actually pretty good at it.

Starfire took a turn singing, and then Cyborg. I ended up with drums for 'Dani California,' with Robin at guitar and Cyborg singing. I took a moment to reflect on the fact that we had yet to break any of the instruments.

Cyborg went and offered the hilt of the microphone to Raven. "You want to try singing?"

"Not my thing. Really not my thing," she anti-enthused.

"Come on. You've got to try it. It's fun! You don't even have to sing, you just hum along to the parts you don't know," Robin countered.

Everyone else was transfixed by now, waiting to see how this debacle would turn out.

"I don't sing, I don't whistle, and I don't hum. Hazel, you do it."

I just smiled, not wanting to interrupt the moment. It was times like these, in other universes, that I felt like a god. I knew what would be going through each of their heads right now. I knew enough about time that speaking right now could change something. I didn't know what, but I didn't let myself questions that. I knew enough, and that was enough for me.

"Hazel's playing drums. You can sing, I've heard you."

Raven's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean, you've heard me?"

Robin eased up at her defensive response. Over the last few weeks, I had seen how those two spoke to each other. Their words were like a dance. They each tested where to go, phrased questions…almost as I did, though on a slightly more perceptible scale. Their arguments tested each other for everything. It was like what my ninth grade English teacher had been talking about when I had first been transported to the Whoniverse. There was what they were actually saying, but several intentional layers below it. For all I knew, this argument wasn't about a pimped up remote.

Hell, maybe it came from reading fan fictions, but I knew these people. This had to work. All the implications, in the early episodes up to the end in season four, had been this. It was meant to be, that much was clear. I hadn't changed anything between them- there was no way.

Maybe it wasn't me. Maybe it wasn't them. Maybe my knowledge of this universe was wrong.

Oh, fuck.

Here's my theory: the universe comes before the TV show, et cetera. The translator of said universe (read: director of the TV show) begins with the universe as it is, and as it is translated into his or her head. Then, as they say, everything changes.

The translator voices the idea of the universe, perhaps to a friend or a professional consultant. The universe comes back changed. The universe is put to scriptwriters, who decide that this is going to be a children's cartoon. Then, they change everything again.

In the end, you have the original universe. But with distortions. Things that seem irrelevant, in the case of Teen Titans, not appropriate for children's TV, are cut out. Things are put in. Things change.

So far, it's been next to nothing. Before me, the universe was as I knew it. But now…something clod gripped me as I realized I may not know everything about this world after all.

Raven sang. Robin drummed. Beast Boy almost got them knocked out of the song with his skills, or lack thereof, at advanced level guitar playing. They would never know that my whole perspective had just been changed for the worse.

_So I drive home alone  
>As I turn out the light<br>I put his picture down  
>And maybe get some sleep tonight<em>

I rewound my iPod a few seconds worth of Teardrops on my Guitar.

_And maybe get some sleep tonight._

I shook the device to put it on shuffle. Sleep tonight might as well be a lost cause.

"You cannot go a lifetime without seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail at least once," Robin chided.

"Watch me," Raven muttered in cynical defense, her eyes skimming over the last few chapters of Fahrenheit 451. This was one of those books in which she picked up something new every time she read it, but the ending had always had about the same effect on her- that of a cartoon on one of those kids' channels Beast Boy watched sometimes when he claimed there was "nothing else on." Perhaps one of the cartoons involving happy morals and funny dragons and talking animals.

"Most people have to see it at least three times before finding it funny, but I figured we could start with one," Robin said, apparently not having heard her.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Raven said.

"Come on. Watch the movie. Live a little."

"And how is watching a movie I almost certainly won't enjoy a better use of my time than reading highly acclaimed, thought provoking literature?"

"It's fun," Robin said honestly. Not waiting for a response (a good choice, as he likely wouldn't have gotten one had he waited an hour) he popped the disc into the DVD player and turned the TV on.

"Just keep the volume down," Raven said, knowing that she was fighting a losing battle.

"No," Robin said firmly. "Everyone else is on the fifteenth floor. We are on the sixth. And you will be watching this with me."

Raven just rolled her eyes in response to this, which Robin would never admit stung more than any sarcastic response could.

The opening credits rolled, and Raven had to look up whenever Robin started laughing hysterically. Unwittingly, she read the entirety of the spiel about the moose and by the beginning of the movie itself, she had put her book down and was even smiling a little.

Directly after the witch scene, which Robin was sure had caused Raven to really crack a smile, he paused the movie and went to make popcorn. "See? It's funny," he said, plunking the bowl down in his lap.

Raven helped herself to a handful or the popcorn. Robin was the only one who made it right, without mustard or five pounds of that awful "seasoning" Cyborg and Beast Boy liked so much. How to make popcorn: pop it. Put it in a bowl. Eat it. The end. Nothing fancier than that.

Okay, Raven decided. The movie had an element of classic British humor, even if there was no respectable plotline and all the characters were idiots. After more than two hours, she discovered that it was possible to write an ending that she hated more than the ending of Fahrenheit 451.

"So what did you think?" Robin asked eagerly. Their supply of popcorn had been decimated early on in the movie (somewhere around the black knight, Raven guessed), and they had almost finished picking at the kernels on the bottom.

"Well, the ending destroyed the plot of the movie, if there was one in the first place."

"Do you always have to start with the negative stuff? And by the way, there was never a plot."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that. But the quality of the acting wasn't bad, especially as it was such a low-budget film…"

"Will you stop analyzing it and just say it was funny? Because that is all it is. Pure, unadulterated humor." Robin sat back in his chair, smirking.

"Fine. It was funny," Raven said in her usual monotone.

"Thank you," Robin said in a faux-exasperated tone.

It was a little after midnight. Back on my universe, on a school day, I would just be getting to bed after some cleansing Torchwood watching and fan fiction reading. In the Whoniverse, I would probably be in the flat with Drew, reading, talking about our days and the Whoniverse's future, or just hanging out. With the Animorphs, more than likely the party would just be getting started. Here, for some unfathomable reason, most attacks seemed to come during the day. It was certainly convenient, though personally I wanted the villains to gain about three more collective brain cells so they would figure out to attack at night. Fighting at night had been something else for me with the Animorphs. I yearned to experience the adrenaline rush that came with it again.

I clicked the pause button on my iPod, curled my knees up to my chest, and sighed. The lights in my room had been out for two hours now, but the stars were out, too, casting a faint glow over the Spartan room.

Gosh darn it, I wanted apple cider.

The first experience of living independently was in Cardiff with Drew. My arrangement on the Animorphs world had been too twisted to count for anything. Here, I supposed I could do whatever I wanted again.

I jumped out of bed, threw on a huge red sweatshirt over the cami and leggings I wore to sleep (even after the Animorphs, I still felt more comfortable when I was wearing tight clothing) and walked out my door.

It was now that I realized for the first time how thick the carpets were, how silent the elevator was. This building was way too easy to break into. I might have to speak to Cyborg to ensure the reliability of his security system.

I walked into the common room, surprised to see a single light on in the kitchen and the TV frozen on what seemed to be the credits of a movie. But I barely had time to register this before two faces popped out at me from the couch.

"What is your name?" Robin barked.

I was unsure how to respond to this. Deciding his voice had a satirical, quoting lilt to it, I played along. "Hazel," I said, as condescendingly as I could muster.

"What is your quest?" Raven's voice this time, positively dripping with sarcasm.

"To get apple cider. From the fridge. In the kitchen. Over there," I concluded, pointing.

"What," Robin paused dramatically. "Is your favorite color?"

"Red. Can I get my cider now?"

"You may cross the bridge," Raven said. I took this as a yes and started toward the kitchenette.

Robin and Raven started laughing.

I primed my condescending voice. "What. Was that?"

Robin took over the response, as Raven quickly shut up and her features smoothed over into a mask of emotionlessness. "Have you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" he asked.

"Once. I think. I have a vague memory of hating it." By this point, I had achieved my original goal and was sipping a glass of apple cider.

"Are you kidding? It's the best movie in the world!" Robin said. Raven rolled her eyes, and I assumed she had heard it all two hours ago.

"Oh. Kay," I said, keeping up the condescending tone.

"So really, who was that on the video with you earlier?" Robin asked, effectively preventing a movie dispute.

"And don't use some stupid mind trick to get around answering. You know everything about us, so we have a right to know some things about you," Raven said harshly. I hadn't been planning to give them anything but the truth, but nodded affirmatively anyway.

"His name was Drew," I said, feeling the false calm in my tone. "He was my best friend for nine years and my boyfriend for about two months. He was transferred to the Whoniverse with me."

"What happened?" Raven asked, noting the past tense. The squabbles of five minutes ago had clearly been pushed to the back burner.

"The Doctor- our friend from the Whoniverse and the main character on one of the TV shows- had a way to get us back home, on his time machine. It didn't work."

"That's how you ended up here," Raven said monotonously, as close to sympathy as she was going to get.

"That's how I ended up on the Animorphs world. Another failed attempt to get home brought me here," I corrected. "We were separated in the abyss, and I haven't seen him since. He could be dead, or he could be alive and well on another universe. But I'll probably never know. There are just too many universes out there. It's a wonder that the two of us were born on the same one." I walked over to the window and looked wistfully out at the stars. Maybe Drew was in Stargate, or Harry Potter, or Narnia, or some universe we didn't even know of. But wherever it was, it was too far away.

"I'm sure you'll find him," Robin said from behind me.

"I won't," I said. I turned back around to face the two birds. "I never told you this either: On every other universe I've been on, there was a way to switch universes. See, reality is a funny thing. Anything that's possible here is possible for me right now. That's what my powers come out of. But things that are only possible on other universes probably aren't here.

Seeing that they needed elaboration, I obliged. "I can't ever leave unless I figure out a way to do it on my own."

A slightly awkward silence ensued. What the hell was it with me getting into awkward situations? I just wanted dome goddamn apple cider.

"You'll find a way to get back," Robin assured me.

"Or if you don't our universe isn't all that bad," Raven said, surprisingly optimistic for her.

I didn't know how to respond to their consolations, so I changed the subject. "You're right. But I actually know kind of a lot about your universe. There's more than just the TV series." I wasn't sure why I was unveiling this so nonchalantly, but it couldn't hurt for them to know that they were a comic book series as well as a cartoon.

"Really? Like what?" Robin asked.

"Your universe is very intricate. I've only ever been into the TV series, with you guys, but there's this whole comic book _cult, _almost, and there's a ton of stuff. And it's not just about you. The comic series talks about superheroes all over the world."

"Like who?" Robin again. Now I was pretty sure I knew what he was playing at.

"Batman," I figured that I might as well come right out and say it. "There was actually a lot of spinoff material for him, too. A cartoon series, though less popular than yours, and a couple live action movies." I mentioned this nonchalantly, as if I were just sharing a random tidbit of information. If Robin didn't want Raven to know about his connection to Batman, he wouldn't mention it. "The whole Justice League is featured throughout a lot of it. It's kind of like theirs is the main story and you're the spinoff."

"Of course," Robin said testily. I had gotten about an equal reaction when I had told Torchwood that very thing. Hey, why couldn't the spinoff be better than the original?

"All of the major villains, the Joker, Two Face, Deathstroke- you know him as Slade," I continued. "Most of the DC Comics thing takes place in Gotham, but they might as well have built a whole world in comic books."

"Comic books," Raven echoed. She wasn't being sarcastic, simply noting the irony. "And I thought I'd just gotten used to us being a cartoon to you."

"I've got a picture of all of you as cartoon characters on my laptop," I said. "I'll show you tomorrow or whatever. You all look way different in real life. It's almost funny."

"Cool. I've always wanted to meet my cartoon self," Robin joked.

"Season two, episode eleven. Just you wait," I told him mischievously. Ii figured this one tidbit of information about the future wouldn't hurt too much.

"So which of the videos did you guys see?" I asked, abruptly changing the subject, trying to sound nonchalant. There were ten. Six or seven of them were okay.

"The Chasing Cars one and the one with that Taylor Swift song," Robin replied testily.

_Taylor Swift…Teardrops on my Guitar. Shit. _"Which Taylor Swift one? There were, like, three."

"I'd never heard it before. It's, um," Robin looked at Raven, who shrugged unhelpfully. "Uh, and I could tell you, his favorite color's green, born on the seventeen…" Robin wasn't a hell of a singer, but it was I'd Lie.

"I'd Lie, that's what the song's called. Those are some of the best ones," I said, relief showing in my voice.

"Best as in tamest?" Raven asked, a glint in her eye. Chasing Cars had contained two of our kisses, but none of the videos were much more than that. There wasn't much more than that.

"Best as in nicest. Happiest," I said. The ones that had all the good parts, which, in reality, were few and far between, even before the Whoniverse.

"There are a few more good ones," I said, producing my iPod from my sweatshirt's single central pocket. The slim blue device was turned on, and I pushed it into the proper hole in the room's high tech speaker system, turning the volume way down so we could hear the music easily, but it didn't wake up half the tower.

Hardly able to believe I was doing this, for two people I barely knew personally and as I had come to realize this afternoon might not know at all, I turned on "Us against the World." It was one I don't think Drew had ever seen, but it was my favorite music video of all time.

The hushed voices of Westlife started out the video, and I watched Drew and I interact, the music video a brilliantly artistic intertwining of our time together in the Whoniverse and what I had then thought of as real life.

In the Whoniverse, it had been me and Drew against the world. Against the universe. Against everyone and everything. Standing together. When we were together, we were unstoppable. We made decisions together, changed things together, saved lives together. Changed things, together. Drew and I were partners in crime, friends, roommates, and everything else imaginable to each other. That was before everything changed.

It happened so fast, in the abyss. His hand started out in mine, and next I knew, I was alone in the Animorphs world. It was wrong for me to be on another universe without him. We were a team. With the Animorphs, I had decided that I would just have to be both of us. Here, I knew I couldn't.

"How did you make those?" Raven asked out of insuppressible technological curiosity. "Were all those scenes staged?"

"I'm not totally sure about the science," I said, after Westlife had dreamily muttered the last few us against the world's. "We found this thing, when I was working with Torchwood. It was from the thirty-first century on that world, at a time, my friend said, that people were almost as obsessed with cutting edge technology as they were with themselves. It somehow goes through your memories, pulling things that would match music that the machine chooses for you. And makes a music video out of them."

"Wow," Robin said, clearly genuinely impressed.

"Yeah. I really don't know how it works, but I was borderline obsessed with the thing for awhile. That was one of the best parts of Torchwood." I hadn't meant to hint at my past, but I had pulled at a thread and now Robin and Raven would probably feel the incessant need to unravel it.

"What was Torchwood like?" Robin asked, sounding not manipulative but just curious.

"Torchwood and Doctor Who were two of my favorite TV shows before I went to their universe," I began. "Drew also. Looking back, it seems like Torchwood was just a way for us to test the waters, learn to understand the concept of universes. But we were able to do everything. We saved the world- their world- time and time again. Drew and I, in the Whoniverse- it was the best four months of my life." I continued talking as I had never talked about this before. Because after all, things change. Which means people must change too.

_It was one of those cool late summer nights that let you know, in a sharp intake of frigid air or the prickly rise of goose bumps on your skin that there are cooler months ahead. We had three days until we started high school, and both of us were trying to squeeze the most out of what little summertime freedom we had left. _

_I started out on the roof. The roof had become familiar to me over the last few years, as I often sought refuge or aloneness here. I knew the view from that spot on that roof better than the view from inside my window. But one thing in tonight's starlit view usually wasn't there. Drew. His tall, lone figure walked across the grass to sit by the tall tree that connected our yards. _

_I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know if I was thinking. But I gracefully repositioned myself so I was over the highest part of the grass, making the two story drop reasonably shorter. And I jumped, landing almost peacefully and only stumbling a little in the grass._

_Wearing a black sweatshirt over only a cami and dark jeans, I must have been a ghost of the night as I approached Drew's tree. Hey, I called softly to him. _

_Hey, he said back. Now, Drew didn't usually walk outside in the middle of the night and sit next to a tree. No, that was more up my alley. But I didn't push him. Instead, I walked over, slid down the tree trunk so I was sitting next to him, and neither of us spoke for hours._

I woke up later than I usually did. When I saw how much sunlight was filtering through the curtains, I immediately knew that it was too late to get any good practicing in.

The dream. Me and Drew and starlight. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing expected, nothing lost, nothing gained. Just two kids and the night sky.

Before.

It was the farthest thing from a nightmare possible. The nightmare was waking up to find it all gone.

_Deception, X, Betrothed, Crash, Haunted, Spellbound, Revolution, Wavelength, The Beast Within, Can I Keep Him, Bunny Raven or How to Make a Titanimal Disappear, Titans East Part 1 and Titans East Part 2._

I looked at my messily scrawled list of season three's thirteen episodes. What could I do? What could I change? What could I not change? Already my words were pulling me in several different directions.

Above that list, I wrote _Winner Take All _and _Fractured. _The only two remaining episodes in season two that were not primarily about Terra.

I glanced around the common room, where a normal scene confronted me. Beast Boy and Robin were playing Rock Band, Raven was reading, Cyborg was making waffles and Starfire was attempting to help, and I was sitting cross-legged on the couch, listening to the Rock Band music and working.

Winner Take All had to be coming up, so I would just have to wait until someone broke out that card game and warn them all then. Fractured wasn't too big a deal, and I could ask Larry some questions about the inter-dimensional travel and qualities of differences in this universe. Eventually, I did want to get off. The Whoniverse was where I wanted to be most, but if I could, I would spend my whole life traversing universes. I never wanted to go back to my own, Drew or no Drew, kids or no kids.

Maybe I'd ask Larry, wait until the end of season five when I wouldn't be a help anymore anyway, and then focus on catapulting myself the hell out of here.

But not yet. First was Winner Take All. Next was Fractured, then season 3, then season 4, then season 5. One step at a time.

Time passed as time passes. Winner Take All went off without a hitch (Star, Raven and I even got to see Terra again and I met Jinx and Argent) and Fractured did as well. Larry only seemed to know about different universes under a common universe (which, to the Whoniverse, were actually known as dimensions) which was no help to me whatsoever as I could not travel between dimensions, just the primary universe of a particular dimension, it seemed, according to Whoniverse theory and was kind of an idiot on top of that, but traveling to the crayon world was fun and such a thing that would happen in this perfect little cartoon universe.

It was a seemingly normal day that everything changed.

We were just sitting down to Cyborg's breakfast waffles when the alarm rang. Usually, in our perfect little universe, it saved its shrill beeping for more convenient times. During a meal was rare. During breakfast was almost never.

That should have been my first clue.

Everything was about to change.

Again.

"Titans, trouble!" Robin said. Cyborg grabbed a waffle to go, and we all took to our respective places for the leap to Jump City- me, Star, BB, and Raven to the sky, Robin to the R-cycle, and Cyborg to the T-car. A perfectly normal battle call. I expected that we would deal with whatever villain it was in twenty minutes and then go home and reheat our waffles.

I couldn't have been more wrong. There were going to be no waffles happening today.

I noticed something just as we were leaving. The blinking red dot on the monitor pointed to a familiar location.

Slade's lair. On the outskirts of the city, closer to the forest. This was not going to be pretty.

Time. Time is freaking weird. But above that, time is persistent. Time is only out there to look after itself and doesn't cut you any breaks. Time is an impermeable mass of everything that doesn't put up with your shit.

Time, I realized later, is why we found lava bubbling over a deep pit in a hole in the bottom of the underground.

Time said lava appeared there. So lava appeared there.

Slade had probably abandoned this place when the Teen Titans had blast the roof to shreds. He had enough hiding places in this city.

But we could do nothing as we watched the chamber fill with lava.

"What if this underground based plasma substance rises high enough to overcome our city?" Star asked, scared.

"It won't," I said, finally realizing the purpose of this lava. "It won't need to. It just has to be there."

"But how did it get here? There aren't any magma channels running though this area. It's physically impossible."

Should I explain my thoughts? It was just a theory, really. Time was trying to compensate for the lack of Terra at Slade's side. Time was such a powerful force; it could make the earth itself rally against its disturbances.

This was my fault.

No sooner had I thought that, looking at the pool of simmering lava, that a creature popped up out of it. Raven managed to shield all of us from the spray of lava that came with it, but the creature seemed to be made of lava itself.

…_underground plasma substance… _

…_when something goes temporally wrong, the universe tries to compensate..._

…_when time is mad, it can make things exist that don't…_

We, the Teen Titans, in the DC Comics universe, were facing a Pyrovile.

Native to the Whoniverse, indigenous to the planet Pyrovilia.

Now _this _was totally my fault. For as long as I traveled between universes, I would have these things following me. Not something like "bad wolf" but real things. Tracing my path through space, time, and reality.

My past; always coming back to haunt me.

"What the hell is that thing?" asked Robin, astonished at seeing the creature rise up from lava. Oh, just you wait until the end of season four, Titans- you'll be seeing much greater things come rising out of lava.

I didn't speak, not wanting to initiate a conversation in which I would have to explain the concept of cross universal stalking at least three times over.

"It's some kind of plasma being," Cyborg said, his arm scanner open.

"Whatever it is, we can best it!" Starfire said triumphantly.

"Not quite yet, Star," Robin warned. "Look at it. It's not moving to attack us or anything. It might not even be a bad guy."

"Could it be sentient? It looks like it's…listening to us," Beast Boy contributed.

"It's not. I used my powers to see inside its mind," Raven corrected. "But Cyborg is right. That is not a living thing. It's a creature made of…plasma."

"Damn it, we already have someone named Plasmus," Beast Boy said. "We need a cool name for it that doesn't sound too much like that."

I nearly opened my mouth to suggest Pyrovile, just to make it easier for me to connect the two versions and halt whatever direction Beast Boy's brain or lack thereof was going in (besides, it was a pretty freaking cool name).

"What's your name?" Robin asked, putting his Bo staff back in its original position on his belt. "Do you have a name?"

"Robin, I told you- it can't hear you. It isn't sentient," Raven said firmly.

But both of their heads snapped around when a gurgling sound came from the monster.

"Could that have been the lava?" Cyborg asked logically.

"Perhaps it is its language of choice. I will attempt to communicate with it," Starfire said in a very kind sounding fashion. She proceeded to make a few senseless gurgling sounds. During the course of this, we all stared at her.

When Star finished, we all turned back to look at the creature when it became clear that it wasn't planning to respond.

The creature- the Pyrovile- was gone.

The lava, however, remained in the pit.

"Cyborg! Run a scan!" commanded Robin, staring intensely at the lightly bubbling pool of lava.

"I got nothing. All you'll find in that pit is lava," said Cyborg.

"Are your scanners testing for lava or plasma?" I asked, trying to lead them in the right direction without giving myself away.

"Just plasma. But lava is the only plasmatic substance that can exist on Earth."

"My point exactly. How surprised would you be if this plasma being wasn't entirely terrestrial?" Now I was implying a bit heavily, but we were in the abbreviated children's TV show DC Comics universe. They would accept it. After all, this was a perfect world.

"Should we stay here and keep surveillance on this?" Raven asked. "By all rights, if it's lava, it should have cooled off by now."

"You're right," Cyborg noted, sounding surprised. "Maybe we should have someone watch it, make sure that thing doesn't come back."

"I'll do it," I offered, only then sensing what a tremendously bad idea that would be. What the hell was the point of having such great intuition if it was always a step too late?

"Great. Check up every half hour or so, someone will come to relieve you later," Robin said.

"How long will we have to watch it for?" I asked.

"Until it comes back or we can be sure it's not going to," he affirmed, and I guided my air surfboard over to a very convenient low tree branch and sat down, swinging my legs to test the tree's strength and my own balance.

"Every half hour or so, then?" I asked, prompting them to leave.

"Hopefully, the lava will dry up and nothing will happen. A hole in the ground this size revealing technology so deadly was one hell of a liability anyway," Robin joked, something I never would have thought I would be able to say of him.

"See ya later," Beast Boy said, and I watched them all disappear over the treetops.

I don't know why I started thinking of Drew. He was just part of the state of mind that came over me on those now rare moments when I was totally alone like this. Funny now, how most of the memories I seemed to have of him were not of those first nine years, but of those few rock and roll months we had spent with Torchwood. The beginning or something that led to the end of everything.

The lava didn't appear to be solidifying, and a search through the unbound molecules with my powers revealed the presence of nothing but plasma. No solid masses, no solidifying, and certainly no alien creature.

Maybe it was just this. Maybe it wasn't the universe's way of telling me something. I still thought about Jack's theory of randomness sometimes. Maybe this was just it manifesting itself. Something from the Whoniverse had latched itself on behind me through time and space and the Void, but since there was nothing it needed to be, something random came with me, and it was the existence of the Pyrovile.

Maybe.

Maybe it was time. Time dictated that there would be lava, in this secret lair of Slade's, at this time on this day, so the universe put it there. And maybe to compensate even more, as it seemed to be notorious for doing, it had brought me my old friend Pyrovile.

Just then, I realized that I was wrong. The Pyrovile wasn't a part of the Whoniverse- not for me. I hadn't been there for Fires of Pompeii, that had happened so long ago and wouldn't in the timeline for another year or even more. I only knew of the Pyrovile from watching the TV shows.

Back on my original universe. The moot point, where everything had started. Where I gained all the knowledge that today I needed to save lives and keep my own with me. The universe that had a thin line drawn with every other universe, because it was the nothing universe. A moot point, Ax had called it, when I explained the Whoniverse and what the Animorphs world was to me.

The lava bubbled a little, and I jumped. From that, I realized that it had previously stopped bubbling while I had been thinking.

Lava didn't do that. Even extraterrestrial plasma didn't just stop when conditions remained exactly the same.

Then it erupted, or so it seemed. Droplets of lava flew everywhere, and I retreated behind a few trees before even having a chance to look at the creature. I knew what I would find, anyway.

I guess it shows how much I've changed in the Animorphs world and this one that the first step I took was not to turn on my powers and take general stock and surveillance of the situation, but to reach for my communicator. For a time on the Animorphs world, I had gone solo, always working alone before I let myself be accepted into their team. I had always "worked alone" back on my universe, except when I was with Drew. Us Against the World- not only our theme song, but practically our motto in the Whoniverse. But now, it was me against a Pyrovile and I was calling my friends.

"Guys? It reacted. I need help," I said, not even stumbling over the words that I had hated to ever say back on my universe.

"Hold on, Hazel. We're on our way." Robin's face materialized on the screen, and he spoke authoritatively and calmly, the voice of a good leader.

I tucked the obnoxious yellow device away and snapped my fingers, floating above the treetops in an instant. The Pyrovile's head was about twenty or twenty five feet high, the majority of the trees much taller, but the creature seemed to be ripping their roots out easily enough, so you really had to figure it out for yourself.

"Pyro. You're fire, then?" I yelled, raising my hands to attempt the acute use of my powers I was about to attempt. "Let's see how you do against ice!" I had to fight to keep my eyes open to make sure the thing didn't charge me as I concentrated and filtered out everything but water vapor from a bundle of air over an acres wide patch of forest. Then, I used my newfound temperature control abilities to freeze the now swirling ball of water. Then I chucked the ten foot in diameter ice ball at the Pyrovile.

It struck him and shattered, most of it melting on the spot. It gave a guttural roar and turned to face me, making it clear that I had only angered it.

"Titans, GO!" I heard from the distance, and whizzed toward the sound, where, sure enough, my friends were gathered in formation.

Then, everything happened at once. The creature rendered one of Robin's ice discs useless by smashing it into a tree and appearing to have no ill effects put upon it by the motion. Starfire quickly found that her starbolts only aided the creature, and Cyborg's sonic cannon seemed to do nothing. Raven managed to launch a couple of trees that it had already torn down at it, but they started to burn when they hit. Beast Boy didn't want to touch him, in any form, and for good reason. The creature was smoldering. It looked like the drawings of the planet's tectonic plates you saw in Earth science class, only without the water. All rock and lava.

I was trying to make another ice ball when I lost control of my concentration because I felt a presence at the back of my mind.

A familiar presence. On this universe, there could only be one familiar presence inside my head.

Slade was here. Maybe he had come on a whim; maybe he wanted to control and use the Pyrovile. I couldn't be sure, and it didn't matter. The universe had dictated that he be at this scene, so he was.

Just then, I realized the purpose of the Pyrovile, the lava, the scene. It was all about Slade. Today he was supposed to die here, and if I used this gift from the universe right, he would.

I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but his presence alone triggered a reaction in me like a hundred alarm bells. I knew that he was no telepath, but that didn't make him any less inside of me.

I focused my attention on the villain and made an invisible solidified piece of air smack him from behind. Now he noticed me, high in the trees as he crept toward the battle.

"Hazel," he said, saying the name with layers upon layers of silky condescend, malice, hatred, and smugness.

"Slade," I said, cold, emotionless. I didn't have a chance to do or say anything else because right then, Robin was on top of him.

"I thought you were dead!" Robin screamed, and for the first time, I saw his cold blooded obsession with the egotistical villain.

"Oh, you can't get rid of me that easily," he said. "Really, don't worry. You're in no danger of losing your little playmate."

I'd always been interested in Slade, because of the depth to his character and his witty ironic sense of dark humor. Now, I was just angry with him. Not only for his slightly unfriendly welcome to this universe, but for screwing everything up for me so I would have to coordinate killing him all over again.

Well, I had next to no remorse for this guy now. Killing him shouldn't be that troubling. And we had a nice, bubbling pit of lava for him about twenty feet away.

I let my surfboard angle down and jumped off when I was about five feet above Slade's body. I bent my knees a little bit to avoid crushing them with the immense G-force and gave him a double-footed kick to the shoulder. I ended on the ground with a back handspring and realized that this had done absolutely nothing to deter him. He was pummeling Robin now.

I separated them with a blast of air, making the two scatter ten feet. Then, Slade came after me and for the first time in this universe, I felt completely powerless.

As it was when Slade was near, my mind seemed to open up, letting me empathetically "see" my surroundings. We were doing nothing against the Pyrovile, and Robin and I were battling Slade.

I have decided that I would never want full time empathetic sensors. Because as I was looking around without moving my head, the Pyrovile attacked me from behind.

There was screaming pain in the back of my head, and then everything went black.

The Pyrovile was proving to be more than the Teen Titans could handle. Robin and Beast Boy's power relied on physical contact, which was an impossibility with this creature. Cyborg's scanners said that it was over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If they touched that creature, they would fry. Beast Boy could feel the heat radiating off its body from twenty feet away.

He wasn't even in a morph, knowing that he couldn't do anything no matter what he was. He continually glanced around the clearing, looking for an opening or _something _he could do.

It was in this fashion that he noticed Slade. Slade attacking Robin with Hazel hovering over them, trying to intervene.

Beast Boy didn't waste a second in leaping up, morphing lion, and joining the battle.

Suddenly, as he looked over at the scene with the impeccable eyes of the large cat, Hazel was no longer there.

The Pyrovile! None of them had been able to stop it before, and it had sent Hazel flying, but not in her usual, free as air, sense, but falling through the air to the other side of the woods.

Beast Boy let thoughts of Hazel flee his mind- the girl could take care of herself. He let out a roar and leapt toward Slade.

The Pyrovile, or so the alien had been called by Hazel, seemed to only grown stronger with every star bolt Starfire threw at the creature. The frightening cracks that led from the blackened exterior to the blackened outside of the creature seemed to glow to register the balls of green fire, and it did not stumble or make a noise of pain.

Starfire watched in horror from above as the creature set yet another tall forest tree aflame and effortlessly tossed it aside. "This creature is a danger and we do not seem to be able to stop it! It could destroy the city!"

"It could destroy the world," Cyborg said, giving it another blast from his sonic cannon.

"The creature is of fire, yes?" Starfire asked.

"Basically, yeah," Cyborg said, driving it back still more and not wanting to explain the concept of lava to Starfire in the middle of a battle.

_We know someone who can help us against fire! _Starfire thought joyously, reaching for her communicator. She snapped it on and found the right channel.

A mysterious and handsome face appeared on the screen. "Friend Aqualad! You must come, and quickly! We are in the process of battling a very dangerous animal monster whom we cannot subdue! And only you could help us with an animal monster that is made of fire!"

Aqualad was underwater and his telepathy didn't work across satellite communication lines, so he simply nodded into the communicator and started swimming as quickly as he could toward the surface.

Starfire closed her communicator and looked around once again. It was then that the alien girl noticed something amiss.

There was a scuffle going on at the other end of the clearing. "Oh no! Robin!" she cried out, diving toward the scene.

I very narrowly avoided bashing my head into a tree and gave myself a moment to lie on the ground, the wind knocked out of me. I leapt back up quickly; I had always been a graceful faller. I ran a few steps to assure my brain that I wasn't hurt (I guess part of me still wasn't accustomed to this universe, where life-threatening injuries didn't seem to occur) and leapt on to a surf bubble.

The battle with Slade was full-fledged now, and the Pyrovile was having its own battle, it seemed, against the forest. At least it wasn't heading for the city. For some unfathomable reason, it was heading to the water.

But I couldn't focus on that. Slade and Robin were practically on the edge of the lava-filled hole. How could I communicate that Slade had to fall in?

Suddenly, my attention was caught by a disturbance in the ocean to my right. A pillar, it seemed, of water, erupted (what apt terminology) out of the sea, arcing toward where we were, droplets flying everywhere.

Aqualad. I couldn't know how he'd known to come, but now we could have a chance against the Pyrovile.

I focused back on the crucial element- Slade- knowing that Cyborg and Aqualad would be able to handle the Pyrovile. The battle was so close to the lava that the droplets that spurted out of the bubbling droplets were nearly hitting their faces.

It was now. I knew it. Call it intuition, call it instinct, call it a message from the overarching universe, but I knew.

Slade had to die.

The other Titans seemed almost afraid to intervene at this point, the battle was so close to the lava. The occasional starbolt or black energy- shrouded tree was hitting him, but Slade seemed to pay them no attention.

I pelted a jet of focused air at the lava, creating a near- tornado and opening a hole in the center of the cavern. The ground in the center was completely black and dried off, as though we really were in a cartoon. It was a swirling eclipse of lava around a deathly black eye.

Robin saw what I was doing. Giving Slade a kick and then jumping out of the way, he made room for Beast Boy, now a bull, to charge him.

Slade was taken completely by surprise. Beast Boy hit him with a cartoonlike noise, throwing his own head up and Slade straight into the center of the pit.

But it wasn't a dream. From there began a dance.

Slade was surprised, but it seemed to do nothing to his reflexes. He reached out and knocked Robin into the pit as well.

Just try manipulating lava with air so two people can have a battle in a ten-foot circle, keeping them supplied with air and manipulating the lava field so your friend is not engulfed while maintaining concentration on holding yourself up.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Raven dive-bombing the fight, hands aglow with black energy. I focused on widening the circle still more, giving her room to maneuver and take Robin out.

But I had forgotten about the Pyrovile.

I didn't notice, but I had let my surfboard slip down to a level where it was barely skimming the treetops. The Pyrovile is about that high plus about ten feet.

"Hazel!" Aqualad's smooth voice yelled as it came stomping toward me. But I didn't look. I couldn't. had to concentrate- use my power…

It struck me with unbelievable force and I was knocked straight off my surfboard. And for one tiny moment, I lost control.

Raven managed to pull up right on top of the body of lava as the vortex slammed itself together. Cyborg had abandoned the Pyrovile to assist Robin, Aqualad insisting he could handle the thing.

And look what had happened. He couldn't see Hazel anywhere above the trees and was almost glad for it, knowing that he might kill her if she even set foot here.

"Robin!" Raven cried into the pit of lava. Then, as she regained reason, she said more quietly, in almost a whisper, "Robin."

Knowing that there was nothing she could do, she levitated over to where the other three remaining Titans stood and landed next to Cyborg. Knowing that she wouldn't like it but he wasn't going to damn well care because she needed it right now, Cyborg put an arm around her shoulders.

Together, the fractured team watched the lava pit bubble over their friend.

Raven's voice had regained its usual cool, emotionless tone. "Robin."

The blow didn't knock me unconscious. Maybe that would have been better. Maybe it would have been better if it had just killed me then and there.

Maybe I would just kill myself. The universe could obviously see now that I was incapable of fixing anything. She had picked the wrong person for the job. Perfect with my partner in crime, but alone, mortal and stupid.

I had to face them sometime. Why not now, when I was simply in shock instead of wallowing in self- berating?

I stood up, surprised by how light my limbs felt. I walked as though I were on the moon over to the clearing.

I've been told that I can move through the forest as though I have wings. Maybe this is why I noticed everything before the real Titans noticed me standing behind them.

The lava was still bubbling in the pit, but it seemed to be receding. The Titans were all standing in a cluster, looking into the pit.

It was confirmed. And I had to expose myself sometime or another. "He didn't get out, did he?"

A stupid question. Which, as Drew loved to say, called for a stupid answer.

Raven shrugged herself out of Cyborg's awkward embrace and walked up to me. Then, without saying a word, she slapped me.

I refused to touch my face, shutting my eyes and glaring at her for a bit of dramatic effect. "I'm sorry," I said, cool, dry. And I was. I wasn't planning to glorify my position with the little detail about the Pyrovile, but it was hard to resist adding "it wasn't my fault" with the glares I was getting from all of them.

Just then, Aqualad bounded into the clearing where we were all standing. "Well, that thing will have fun as a pile of ash now," he joked, then looked up and saw our faces. "What?"

Though he was the last person I would have guessed to, Beast Boy was the one to tell him. "Robin's dead," he stated bluntly, not at all in his usual jibing tone.

"What-no!" Aqualad said, stricken. "What the hell happened?"

"Hazel," Raven said venomously. I hung my head, feeling tears leaking into my eyes. This wasn't fair! I couldn't have had a chance. And they were all closer to the battle than I was. They had to have known what I was trying to do…

_NO! _I thought firmly. I couldn't go about setting the blame on someone else for this. It was my job to help shape this universe, and what I failed at was my responsibility.

"Hazel?" I could feel Aqualad looking at me. "Oh my God! When that thing-"

"Pyrovile," I corrected unemotionally.

"Whatever. But, Hazel, then! Oh my God!" I don't know why I processed this just then, but I filed a little something away about Atlantian religion.

"It's not that. It was me," I said firmly, looking up with hopefully clear eye sockets. "And I'm sorry." Please, please don't tell, Aqualad.

"How long should we wait?" Raven said, watching the lava bubble down. God, this had to be hitting her hard. All of them. In real life, I had known Robin only weeks, but for the rest of them…he was their leader, their parental figure, their friend…what the hell were they going to do?

Season Three. And oh, shit, season four.

If they magically managed to last through season three, it wouldn't matter. The world would end in season four, episode twelve.

I had just killed a person. Sometimes, it seems like one little person doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. But I hadn't just killed a person. In that, I had managed to kill their whole world.

_Flesh will turn to stone…_

_The gem was born of evil's fire,  
>The gem shall be his portal<br>He comes to claim, he comes to sire  
>The end of all things mortal<em>

Yeah, I have a thing for memorizing prophecies.

It was all going to come true. Because of me.

Cyborg rounded up the rest of the Titans to take them back to the Tower. Apparently, I wasn't included in this prospect.

I was left standing alone with Aqualad next to a pit of lava that refused to solidify.

"Why didn't you tell them about the Pyrovile? You couldn't have seen it coming. I know how your power works. What you were doing must have required more concentration than I think I have. It wasn't your fault!"

Cold words. Almost as bad as 'nice try.'

"Yes, it was. I opened the pit like that so Robin could dump Slade into it- he could have anyway, it was really just for a signal. And I failed to communicate my intentions effectively, and lives were lost." I turned away from those two soulful black orbs he called eyes. "You don't know me, Aqualad. I was trying to do something that had to happen, or the universe probably would have imploded." I made eye contact again. "And I'm NOT joking. I'm from a different universe, Aqualad. I know things. I'm supposed to do things. I should be saving lives, making sure everything turns out right. It's why I exist. It's why you know me. Today, Slade was supposed to die in a pit of lava. He did. That was fulfilled. But because Robin is dead, the world will end in a year or so, if not sooner. And it's all on me."

"What are you talking about?" Aqualad looked truly confused. But whatever stupid stuff he said on the show, he could never be mistaken for unintelligent.

Especially with those eyes…

"Okay, I get it," he continued. "That's why you seemed, like, omniscient the first time we met. Omniscient and detached." I could practically see the pieces clicking together. "But if you knew what had to happen, why didn't you just tell them?"

"I'm not used to trusting people," I said. Why was I having this conversation with Aqualad? I had never even told Drew this. "I try to let things play out almost as they would and just give a little push in the right direction. But here, I couldn't. This world is the closest thing to perfect I've ever seen."

Aqualad raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't seem that way to me," he said, almost jokingly.

"But it is. A few universes ago, almost everyone initially died in the end. But I changed that," I explained. _Try being_ _in an apocalypse universe…knock on wood_, I thought. "Here, nothing bad happens in the end. Really, your entire dimension just has exceptionally good luck…had," I corrected, thinking about my mistake.

"But if we've all got that good luck stuff you keep talking about, can't we make it like it was before?" Aqualad asked.

He didn't understand. "No. Everything happened right because of all those little triggers- all those tiny decisions you make, you know, what to have for breakfast, whether to go right or fake a left- that's what makes this universe what it is. Because you make all the right choices. I'm not part of that. By my being here, I upset that precarious balance. And now this universe can't ever go back. Robin was supposed to save your whole universe singlehandedly once. Now, everything will end because of me."

"It wasn't you! If anything, it was me. That monster, the Pyrovile, was my responsibility. You were doing all you could."

"No. I was trying to do it the way I knew how. And apparently, that was wrong."

"What would you do if you got to try again?" Aqualad asked. I wasn't sure what the intent of his question was, but I answered honestly.

"Leave as soon as I got here. My first day here, on this universe, I saved a life. I righted one of the few wrongs that I know is supposed to happen in this universe. In doing that, I created the circumstances for today." I sighed. _I'm just like Jinx. Only worse. _

I had lost a friend today, too. Robin had been more there for me than any of the others. He'd been that to everyone, which I suppose made it so easy to ship Robin/ Raven and Robin/ Starfire.

Well, there was another failed goal. Maybe if I killed myself, I'd end up on another universe. One where I would do things right. One where I could solve problems, and help.

"Come on," Aqualad said, drawing me out of my depressing thought train. "Let's go to the tower. I can explain for you. They have to know what really happened."

I pulled away as he slipped his hand into mine. "No. They don't have to know. I'm leaving, Aqualad. Going somewhere new. I can't stay here and face the consequences I've created."

"But where are you going to go?" he asked, having long since given up on the physical advances on me.

"England. There might be someone who can help me there. I met him in another universe, and he explained a lot to me. He could probably get me out of here." Of course, I doubted that the Doctor would exist in this universe. And if he did, there was no conceivable reason that he would be on Earth for my convenience. Because I was a stroke of bad luck in a perfect world.

Aqualad nodded in farewell, and I snapped my fingers and let my air surfboard take me straight up. Past the treetops, past the clouds, and higher.

Up and away.

Something wasn't right. Robin didn't know if it was the lava or if, somehow, it was himself, but in reality, there was no conceivable way that he could still be breathing. The air pocket that the impact of his strong cape on the lava had created around him should have dissipated into carbon dioxide minutes ago. And yet he was still breathing freely.

_Extraterrestrial lava, _Hazel had said. Maybe she was right. There was something different about this stuff.

Robin's cape had multiplied in size as it did in extreme situations to spread over his form, crouched down on the black obsidian stone the lava had left. It felt cooler now, than it had when Hazel had been attacked and lost her concentration. But he was afraid that if he let his cape carry him away from the bottom, he might lose his sense of which way was up and open his cape at the wrong time.

_I can't stay down here forever, _he thought, and prepared to make his move. He rearranged the span of the cape so it covered his feet as well as his body- though his boots would have done almost as good a job as it, he wanted to take all precaution possible- and jumped.

Surprisingly, he met none of the resistance of lava as he jumped into the air. The cape billowed for a moment, and he saw a flash of black, not the reddish orange of plasma. Once he was safely on grass, he released his grip on the cape and let it fold back into itself, revealing it untouched in its usual short, practical style.

Robin stared at the pit of lava.

Or lack thereof. How long had he been curled under that cloak to protect himself from open air? Where had the lava gone? And why had his friends left?

Glancing around, Robin saw the ashy remains of what must have been the Pyrovile. Good, Aqualad had been able to take care of him. He'd have to congratulate Starfire on that call.

He was about to leave the clearing when he saw something. It was a spot of yellow on the green grass. He walked over to it and picked it up, easily identifying it as one of their communicators- probably Raven's or Hazel's, the only ones that were not adorned with green scribbles (BB), random bits of tech (Cy), sparkly rhinestones (Star), or a large red R (him) on the back. He pocketed it and started the trek back to the outer edge of the woods. Someone had taken his motorcycle- that happened all the time. He had a tracker on it, refusing to let Cyborg unleash the full marvel of his security systems. He would get it back later.

He got back to the tower walking the underwater path that they usually used only for vehicles. He emerged in the garage on the basement level of the island, and summoned the elevator.

Raven hadn't spoken a word since they had gotten into the T-car and driven home. That wasn't unusual. However, nobody else had spoken either, which was very unusual.

But today's events had surpassed unusual.

Everyone was in the common room, probably hoping to draw comfort from each other. Beast Boy sat on the couch with Cyborg at his side, fiddling with the remote. Cyborg just stared at the black TV screen. Starfire was cooking something that she was probably about to make them eat. When Raven noticed that Star was about to open the fridge, she used her power to make the Titan's entire supply of alien food invisible. No need to increase their suffering.

Raven herself was sitting cross-legged on the couch with a book in front of her, only she hadn't turned a page since she'd picked it up.

They all turned around when the door opened once again, expecting it to be Aqualad. But it wasn't his tall, mysterious, blue clad frame that stepped through the door.

It was a short (what was lost in inches was made up for by hair height) enigma who walked with a self- assured gait, who stepped into the room in a swirling blur or primary colors.

They all had the same thought at the same time, but only Starfire voiced it aloud immediately. "ROBIN!" she called in what Raven had deemed her ecstatic voice. "You are unharmed!"

The alien girl swept their leader into a hug. "Uh, yeah," Robin said, shifting away from Star's bone crushing grip. "Did you think I was hurt?"

"We thought you were dead," Raven said, her voice cool and monotonous, giving no hint of the emotions she was internally battling down.

"You thought- no. I'm fine. And Slade's dead!" he said, addressing the whole group as his gaze continued to bore into Raven. "I saw the lava engulf him. He had no chance!"

"But what about you? I mean, I'm not complaining or anything but how did you survive?" Beast Boy asked, throwing the remote on the floor and bouncing over to Robin.

Robin smiled, always loving to show off his tricks. "My cape. In extreme situations, it can expand or contract as necessary. And it's about ten times stronger than steel, so the lava didn't even leave a scratch."

"Well, glad to have you back, man," Cyborg said, getting up and lightly slapping Robin on the back. Only Raven hung back, her emotions still threatening to get the best of her.

After an obnoxiously long group hug, Robin went over to Raven, who was now sitting alone, hood up, book closed. He awkwardly put his arms around her and whispered "I know how much you hate this, but indulge me, okay? I know how scared you must have been."

It was all the trigger Raven needed to start crying.

"So what happened to Hazel?" Robin asked casually. He berated himself for not noticing the distinct lack of her presence for the last two hours since he'd come back. She was probably off with Aqualad or something.

Cyborg was the first to show a reaction. "Hazel!" he said, pausing his video game to Beast Boy's chagrin and turning around.

"Yes, what became of our friend Hazel after we called her the mean names and left her in the clearing?" Starfire asked innocently. "She has yet to return, and Robin is back."

"What – happened?" Robin asked for the third time.

"We thought she'd killed you, man!" Cyborg said.

"It wasn't her fault. Aqualad was having trouble with Pyro-man and it attacked her when she was trying to concentrate on keeping the lava at bay. I can imagine it's not the easiest task," Robin said, gaining another ounce of respect for Hazel. "I saw it. It's how I knew to use my cape."

"The Pyro guy attacked her? Why didn't she tell us?" Beast Boy asked, miffed.

"We should call her. Find out how she is and what she's doing," Robin said. He took out his communicator and connected to Hazel's line.

A red light started blinking from his other pocket. He had forgotten about the communicator he'd picked up off the forest floor.

Hazel's, apparently.

"I'll try Aqualad," Beast Boy said, taking out his own communicator. "He was still there with her when she left." He went to work on his own communication.

Now Robin was worried. Hazel had always been a little fragile, and he'd noticed her perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive qualities early on. Robin didn't know, didn't want to know, what thinking you had killed a person would do to someone like her.

Beast Boy managed to connect with Aqualad, and the whole team clustered around his communicator. Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Aqualad beat him to the punch. "Robin! You're alive! What the hell happened?"

"Nothing. I protected myself." Explaining the trick with his cape had gotten old. "Aqua, have you seen Hazel?"

"She's not with you guys? I only saw her right after you guys left. She was pretty much beating herself up for having killed you, Robin. She told me a little about, you know, where she's from and then she just left," he said, his tone growing worried. "She was pretty messed up, especially after your little confrontation with her. You should make sure she's alright."

"We want to. But we don't know where she is, and she dropped her communicator," Cyborg replied. This was bad. What if Hazel had gone and done something stupid?

"We should check Hazel's room to see if she's been in there. I know she leaved her window open most of the time, so she could have gotten in and out without us noticing.

All of the Titans trailed Robin to Hazel's room , where Cyborg diid something to override her door locks.

The scene that greeted them wasn't surprising, at first. The walls were white and the two tein beds the room contained were also covered in white. The bed nearest the window was unmade and the closet door was open. Only a few random items littered the floor.

Hazel's backpack was gone.

She never came back.

I don't know how I did it. It just happened.

Perhaps I was getting better at reading my paranormal instincts, perhaps I was meant to go, perhaps both. But after I had snuck in the Titans tower for the better part of thirty seconds to collect my stuff, I was out of there.

I was the traveler, the wanderer, the universe-jumper. And it was me against whatever world would come next.

A Dream Within a Dream  
>(or how a seventy page, ten cent purple notebook can change everything)<p>

The abyss had always been something grand, exotic, and dangerous beyond my comprehension. This journey seemed longer than the others, somehow, but there seemed to be more of the distant lights that made the place so mysterious.

Like all the times before, I was carrying my blue and black backpack. Like always, I barely had anything in it that I'd had in the last universe. I was even wearing the same outfit as the last time I had crossed between universes- a loose red t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans.

Landing in whatever new universe I was in felt like one of those dreams where you're falling and open your eyes just as you're about to hit the ground and find yourself in bed. I haven't had one of those dreams since I was about eight years old and decided to make myself queen of the air on Drew's and mine imagined planet. Then on the Teen Titans world, my last stop, it had come true. I had power over air. I'd even learned some pretty awesome tricks.

After taking a few moments to rest, I sat up and objectively looked around my surroundings for any hint as to where I could be. If tradition stayed as it was, I was in a universe I knew. And it wouldn't take me long to figure it out.

I walked north because I knew too. Don't ask me how I even knew it was north, but when I first enter a universe, my instincts are in hyper drive. It could be something pertaining to the abyss, or just a little housewarming gift from my puppet master, the universe. The thing didn't seem to be curtailed on this universe, because I was totally solid on where I was going for a good twenty seconds. Before, it only lasted until I listened and glanced the right way.

I was in the middle of some sort of forest. The display was almost magical, the way light streamed through the trees. That should have been my first clue.

After twenty minutes, I noticed that I was walking on a path which became clearer as I went. That should have been my second clue.

I walked out of the forest into a meadow. A meadow that looked familiar. At that moment in time, I didn't know that I had invented and drawn it in third grade.

There looked to be a city, dwelling, cult, or place in which people live up ahead. The way there was clear, all fields.

When I'd invented those fields when I was seven, I didn't know that logically, they would be used for farming. They were just fields.

When I walked closer to the city, I finally noticed where I was.

This was a place called Yeiverica.

Drew and I had drawn, mapped out, written about, daydreamed about, and role played that we lived on this planet through four years of elementary school.

Once I figured it out, by the physically impossible shape of some of the buildings, I was surprised I hadn't figured it out sooner. I knew this universe better than any in the world.

As I walked toward the village, I realized something. I wasn't something the universe had decided to drop in here to stir things up- I existed here. Drew and I had drawn this kingdom around illustrated versions of us. We were the main characters in our self created story.

And it was a story. Complete with diverse characters, a well-defined setting, a plot, and so many plot holes it might as well have been Swiss cheese, we had created a story. A story with heroes and villains and shades of gray, of conflicts and betrayals and happiness. And now, for better or for worse, the story was real. And I was about to live it.

It took another half hour of walking to reach the city. I didn't dare attempt to use my powers over air, for fear that I may not be who I was supposed to be in this universe.

I stood on the outskirts of the neatly circular, cobblestone road that surrounded the wall less village, watching Yeiverican children play and trying to figure out where in the timeline we were.

After a few minutes, just as I was about to start into the city and investigate further, a little girl of about ten with a dirty t-shirt and a full head of bouncy red curls ran past, being chased by a dark haired boy of about seven. The girl was thin and athletic looking, and the boy was chubbier and slow but had a huge smile on his face.

I knew them. I had personally created them. It was Lia and Caleb. Eventually, Lia would star in one of my stories and develop magical powers. Caleb would die around the same time.

Lia's story was one of the first we had created. "The World Beneath the Sky," Lia's first story, had come just after "A Drop in Time," featuring the alter egos of me and Drew. "A Drop in Time" was where it all started.

I walked into the village. There was nothing to do but figure it out. And I would. In this universe, figuring out the exact timeline would take about twenty seconds, tops.

Or it would have. But there was a teeny distraction standing at a street vendor, wearing a green t-shirt with blond hair that was almost long enough to cover his neck. The distraction was about five foot eight and as soon as it turned around, I knew that it was _him._

I couldn't help myself. "DREW!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. He turned around.

It was Drew. One of those Taylor Swift music videos started reverberating inside of me.

_We were both young, when I first saw you  
>I close my eyes, and the flashback starts<br>I'm standing there  
>On a balcony in summer air<em>

I think I realized, as he started running toward me, just how much I loved Drew.

That universe was perfect for us. We were already heroes, eventually to become rulers and peacekeepers. We stood united for the duration of our time there.

Everything changes. Time changes, places change, and people change as the universe changes around them. Us. I had changed beyond recognition from who I was the day I walked out into the neighborhood woods with Drew. From then forward, it had been me and Drew against the world. We might have been apart or together, but we were never alone.

_Cause it's us against the world  
>You and me against them all<br>If you listen to this words  
>Know that we're standing tall<br>I don't ever see the day that I won't  
>catch you when you fall…<br>Us against the world_

Together, we would rock the universe and put it together. And we would be ready to go the same for whatever the universe decided to throw at us next.

It would always be Drew and Hazel against the world.


	2. Travelers

Travelers

No turning back, no backing down

Where we are. Who we are. What we are. Where we've been. Who we were. What we're going to become. There was a before, when we were halfway normal people living in a normal world with mostly normal lives. Hazel and Drew had each other. Auby and Daniel chose not to. None of us knew our destiny.

Nowhere to run, no solid ground

It's a strange word, destiny. Really, it doesn't exist except in a hypothetical paradox because if you don't know it, you really don't have one, and if you do have one, you can always change it. None of us really believe in destiny.

No place to hide, no one to trust

We've been alone, all of us. We all know what it's like to be alone together. And we know how much worse it is to be truly alone, with no one to turn to, no one to talk to, no one to help you. Nobody who lives a normal life can understand. To be uprooted from your very universe and all you know of the world is something no one should have to go through alone. Alone, over and over.

No one to help you when you're lost

We know there's no destiny because we can't possibly know what we each would have chosen. If Daniel had been there, would Auby have chosen sooner? If Auby had made her choice, would Drew have chosen differently? If Drew had chosen before Hazel, would that affect her choice?

There's only us.

We've been told we have destinies. Destinies that always, irrevocably lead to loneliness. But we know that we can change that. And we all will.

Here is our story.

Filler: Daniel  
>Death Note<p>

My first universe was Death Note. Now, I have to begin by mentioning that Death Note has always been one of my favorite animes ever. The psychological warfare aspect is…delicious, as a yaoi fangirl would have said.

Being there was weird, and at the same time thrilling. I had a conversation with Light when I was sure that we weren't at a crucial point in the series. I didn't tell my full name to anyone there. It all worked out. It was almost fun, after I got over the initial shock.

I watched L die. I was in a taller office building a few hundred feet away across several blocks with a pair of binoculars. I owed it to these incredible characters to really witness this scene for myself.

Unfortunately, I didn't stick around long enough to watch Light and Matsuo blow up at each other in the epic and tragic last episode. I had always kept a certain respect for Light. He did what he thought was right, damn the consequences to himself. I didn't admire his God complex, but I admired his honor. He was deceitful, sociopathic, and downright evil, but he stood up for what he believed in.

From the start I knew I could never become him.

Part I: Lost in Time  
>(of old friends and new enemies)<p>

*I'm not sure which it was that determined it all- the time or the place?

If it was the time, I would never forgive myself for those extra few minutes I spent looking around for my blue Converse since they went with my outfit better that my black ones.

If it was the time, and I had been with him when it happened, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. Maybe it would have been halfway bearable. But I took those few minutes, it happened in the middle of the street, and neither of us would even know what would have happened otherwise. *

The first thing I thought when I landed as though falling from a cliff on a toilet seat was _what, no rooftop? _

Long story there. Go read it. Or just try to roll with it. That's what I do.

This policy allowed me to take my position on a toilet seat in stride, and I stood up, asserted that I had my backpack (I didn't bother checking to make sure everything was in it; it was the same weight it had been seconds ago when I'd left Yeiverica and if the Universe knew me at all, she wouldn't dare mess with it.

Yes, I do happen to be aware that I just called the universe a she. This is because I practically know her personally. We're good buddies from the way she carts me around all the time.

I didn't give myself time to dwell on the situation and resolved to find out more about it, which was my usual Step One upon entering a universe.

I exited the large but fairly generic public bathroom (after shamelessly checking my appearance in a mirror ) and was only mildly surprised to find myself in an airport terminal. (The roof of a hospital comes to mind. So does the roof of a school. The middle of the woods…)

Sensing no immediate danger, and for once looking like I completely belonged with my overstuffed backpack and confortable nut less than fashionable clothes, I started walking in a random direction. My random directions are usually right, I've come to realize, and I know that it's probable Madame Universe.

She really needs a cooler nickname. What was a cool word for universe? I absolutely refused to use anything even remotely related to the word God, and I had decided that she was a female anyway. Lady Universe? Lady Galactica?

It was in the midst of these distracting thoughts that I figured out where I was. Well, where, when, situation, and whatever other aspects of setting there are.

"Watch it kid," a gruff male voice practically growled at me as I accidentally bumped into its owner. I looked up, almost ready to tell him off, but was stopped in my tracks by what I saw.

I knew where I was. And the reason I didn't tell the guy off for bumping into _me _was because I was now totally sure I would be spending the next few months on an island with him.

"Sorry," I muttered, brushing past. _Hello, Sawyer, _I thought once he was out of my sight line. _I used to write fanfiction about you. _

*I held Drew in my arms for longer than I ever had before when I finally, finally saw him again. I had never been much of a hugger, and despite being best friends, Drew and I had rarely if ever hugged before we started hopping universes. But now, it was different. We were two people in love who knew what it was like to be apart, and now that we had each other back, never wanting to let go.

The moment I had noticed that it was Yeiverica had sent a flurry of happiness to my heart, and seeing Drew across the square, really being with him for the first time in so, so long, I started shaking and all of a sudden was crying and couldn't stop. Drew didn't say anything. He didn't mention the last time he'd heard me cry- I couldn't even think of when that would have been. He just stayed there, being my rock, my Drew.

From the moment we arrived and for the next three hours or so, Yeiverica seemed perfect. It was a quaint little universe, all generic fantasy, but it was _our _universe. Our little corner of the sky, full of plot holes and Mary-Sues and self inserts (wait, no- that was us) and all the crap that fourth graders write about in little purple notebooks.

It wasn't until we stopped celebrating and really got to sit down and think about it that we realized how wrong it all really was. But even then, it was okay. Drew and me _against _the world-or the people, or the universe, or anything- was the only way it could really be.*

Oceanic Flight 815. I had had that sequence memorized for years. And now I was staring at it on the departures screen.

There was no question that I needed to be on it. But how exactly was I to do that.

I think the universe told me to check my bag. Please, don't get excited about me hearing voices in my head or whatever. I _decided _to check my bag, and when I realized it was a good decision, blamed it on Madame Cosmos.

In my bag lay a passport.

Madame Cosmos was messing with my bag.

"I don't really care if you fuck with my mind, but my bag is off limits. Clear?" I got about halfway through saying this out loud before I realized what I was doing. I swore under my breath, something I believe even normal people to, and asserted that nothing else was wrong with my stuff before closing my backpack and putting the intrusive passport in my jeans pocket.

Inside the passport was a ticket. So she was helping me now? Granted, I know I couldn't have gotten onto an airplane without one and without the money to buy one, but why was she going to all this trouble for me? Why not just drop me on the island?

It was a choice. I don't know if she put that thought in my head, or if it was my own. But that was what the airport was about. She was testing me. I knew that she could put ideas in my head already. What was the point in a test?

LOST was a huge, complicated, impossible universe. The most I had had to take on before was changing the opinion of a society and preventing a few deaths, and that was with Drew. But here, cause and effect were all too rigid, and I didn't even know how it was all supposed to end.

Maybe I wasn't supposed to go. I couldn't know how it was supposed to be in the end; a happy ending was unlikely, but they might try for a decent one. Would they fare better on LOST-verse without me?

I'd learned my lesson in humility a couple universes ago, and She should know it. The Teen Titans universe would have been so much better off if I hadn't intruded, bringing personal shit from other universes with me. And if anything, I knew that the last thing LOST needed was extra shit to deal with.

Maybe I shouldn't. Was that what I was here for? I knew a couple things off the top of my head that I could fix during season one of LOST, but there was no way of knowing without hours of discussions with Drew how those decisions would affect everything else.

I could blow up the plane- not really. It left in two hours. And I didn't have anything remotely explosive.

It was stay or go. One of the decisions where doing nothing was one of the options. And in those decisions, I had decided that doing nothing was always the worse option.

My passport said Emily Wood. My ticket said 16A. A window seat, at least. I knew I would survive this plane crash, and I had a sneaking suspicion everyone else in my row would, too. Blessed, stupid, crazy thematic numbers.

I still didn't know what those meant. I had the fan theories all but memorized, but I had never lived as far as 2010 on any universe and didn't know anything but vague spoilers on season six.

A character I identified from the end of season five who I identified as Frogurt sat beside me. Even now, he was wearing a red shirt. In a few months, he would be shot with a flaming arrow along with most of the other redshirts and there was nothing, nothing I could do to stop it.

I smiled at him to acknowledge his presence and picked up my copy of SkyMall.

I fell asleep on the plane.

It's not too unusual, I guess. I've been on red-eye flights before. It's possible.

But in the middle of the day, in a crowded plane that I knew was going to crash in the next few hours? Falling asleep is a real feat.

I woke up to what felt like a tornado.

I had seen this scene play out, so many times. The cameras try to capture how horrific it is, but without the jostling and being unable to draw breath and seeing that woman trying to scream but unable to as she's thrown out the back of the plane is worse than any couch viewer can ever imagine.

Even in the oxygen mask, I felt short of breath. My hair whipped spastically around my face, and I regretted not having braided it. A few rows ahead, I saw Kate attaching Edward Mars' mask and then her own. My eyes were now watering from the pressure, or the altitude, or the wind, or something.

Down below, Ben and Juliet would be coming out of their book club meeting and looking incredulously to the sky. Desmond would be running ferverently back to the Swan to stop the flow of electromagnetism.

Up here, a nightmare. On the island below, budding chaos.

The crash was too light- a jolt as though I had been in a car moving very fast and it had suddenly put on the brakes. A little whiplash, probably a small burn from the seatbelt on my arm, but overall I was okay.

I had survived my first plane crash.

I took a few minutes to catch my breath, yank my totally disheveled hair into a ponytail, and assert myself before standing up on shaky legs and walking out of the remains of the plane. Neil's seat was gone, but I wasn't worried about him. He would survive, for now.

I was half-disoriented, and almost bumped into a blonde girl my own age who looked just as shocked as I felt. "Sorry," she said, and it seemed like that one word brought me back to my senses. I could see wreckage strewn what had to be a half-mile down the beach, the space in between covered in people-some standing, some lying down, some sitting up, and so, so many not moving at all.

"People are hurt," I said out loud to no one in particular. The girl who had bumped into me turned around and looked at me, then shook her head as though to clear it and looked at me again.

We set off down the beach together, walking past burning wreckage. "Did you have anyone with you on the plane?" she asked, sounding concerned.

I was still drinking in the scene, all the damage the plane had caused. I had seen it on television from every angle, but like this, with the heat and the noise and the haze from the crash and the smell and everything else, was a whole different experience.

"Did you-" the girl began to repeat and I noticed I had been stalling for awhile.

"No. Just me," I said. Politeness, not at all caring, dictated that I respond with "What about you?"

"Same," she said shortly. Just then, Boone came sprinting over to us from the other side of the beach where Jack was frantically trying to restart Rose's heart.

"Do you guys have a pen? And, uh, are you alright?" he asked.

"We're fine," the girl I was with replied. Come to think of it, she barely looked like she had been in a plane crash at all. She was wearing a purple windbreaker unzipped over a tank top and shorts, and no part of her seemed damaged at all. Even her hair looked perfect, but it took a lot to disturb dual French braids.

"Ooh! I have a pen!" I said, eager to forward the storyline in the most harmless way possible. And I had, like, five pens with me. Two in the second outside pocket. "Here," I said, handing a sparkly purple one to Boone. It was one of my favorites, but hey, it was for a good cause.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Boone said and dashed off further down the beach. The blonde girl giggled.

"What?" I asked, actually curious. This was a redshirt who had survived the plane crash and would probably be on the island for the next couple months. No reason not to get to know her, especially if the smarter canon characters questioned my legitimacy.

"I just wouldn't mind being stuck on a desert island for a couple days at all if it was just me and him," she said craftily, and I couldn't help but laugh myself. Maybe this girl should have been a character if she was interesting enough to make fun of the situation like that already.

Or maybe she was somebody's OC. I actually wouldn't be surprised if this island was littered with people's OCs.

"What's your name?" I asked, wondering if I had read a fic about her.

She looked like she was debating for a moment, and I was instantly sure that whatever name was about to come out of her mouth was a fake. "Auby Harris," she finally said. She shook her head and laughed again. "Sorry, it's just everything seems so surreal right now. But yeah. I'm Auby. You?"

"Emily Wood," I said flawlessly, without a moment's hesitation. I totally pawned at using pseudonyms. I couldn't recall any fic with an Auby, though. Or even an OC who used a pseudonym Auby.

Just then, the propeller blew up, sucking the writer Gary Tropes in with it. I stopped thinking and just stared. I could have prevented that. I could have moved him away from there, if I hadn't wasted my time talking to a useless redshirt…

But to what end? Who knew if that would change the entire plotline of Lost? Maybe saving a life could get them all killed, a paradox I knew well.

"Oh my God," Auby said under her breath, blue eyes wide with the fire flickering in them as she took in the reduced scene. She blinked once, then turned toward me. "Let's go. People are still dying."

I decided right then that I liked this girl with the pseudonym Auby Harris.

*The worst day of my life was my favorite kind of day. The air and wind made it cool enough for a light jacket, but warm enough to wear shorts. The sun warmed my face as I made my way down the leaf-strewn street toward Kate's house.

Kate's family had always been a great source of amusement to me, not just because of the Lost relate in her name, but the fact that three of the four kids who lived there had Lost names. Kate, Daniel, John, and Ella. Three Lost relates, one of whom was my good friend, and Ella was just cute as a button.

My blue Converse crunched against most of the leaves I encountered as I made my way down the street and I think I was humming. I can't quite remember because of that strange tint the good memories have after you learn that they're just setup for something much worse.

I looked up in the sky. Everything after that, I decided, was a dream.*

I lent Auby a pair of jeans that night. Never, ever in Lost had it even been mentioned how freaking cold the tropical island got at night on the beach.

"It's because of cloud cover," Auby said when I complained about this very thing. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt that advertised some sorority over my jeans with her now-bare feet stretching towards the bonfire we were huddled around with a couple other redshirts, Michael, and Walt. I was dressed similarly, and had finally gotten a chance to brush out my hair. It felt disturbingly light and silky after the mess it had been from the plane crash. "I read something about this. Places like this don't have clouds to block the sun, that's why it gets so cold during the day, but they don't have clouds to keep the heat in at night, so it gets really cold. It's a weird sort of paradox.

I listened, not so much interested in the concept as I was interested in Auby's now-obvious intelligence. With the Rachel-like qualities of never looking windblown even after a freaking plane crash and the knowledge of random meteorology, I was beginning to think she was not just someone's OC, but a Mary-Sue.

"I don't want to fall asleep here," a female redshirt said. Wait-not a female redshirt. Nikki, from Exposé. Duh. I had only seen that episode once, when it aired years ago. Maybe I could somehow stop Nikki and Paolo from being buried alive…

Just thinking about timelines sent a wave of tiredness through me. I had only slept for about an hour on the plane, and last night, I don't know if I had at all. That's just how it goes when you know that it's going to be the last night maybe forever with the one you love. And Drew and I had both always been a little nocturnal.

*It was when we were leaving Henry and Aja's house that he said it. We had been supplying Henry and his mother, Aja, with food and money to keep Aja from encouraging Henry to go into fortune telling, which would lead to his eventual death after a long, unpleasant trip into dark magic.

"Tomorrow's your last day," Henry said to us. "And then you'll be alone again."

He said it in the blunt way only a nine-year-old psychic could, and maybe that's what made it the most scary. To know that it was happening, and there was nothing we could do about it.

I went into his room that night to find him fingering his trombone. "I gave myself one here in third grade, when I was so excited to start playing with it," he said, barely looking up.

"I remember fourth grade band. I mostly remember sucking at playing the clarinet," I responded, sitting next to him on the couch.

Drew smiled at my not exactly fortuitous humor, and then leaned over and kissed me. It was soft and slow for awhile, then I realized he was tugging at the string of my toga- not yet unraveling it, asking my permission.

Should we? We were practically adults now, in Yeiverica terms and on our own. But what made me decide it was right was the realization that after tonight, we may never see each other again.

I slid my hand under his and undid the toga string myself.*

What was I to do?

Everyone else was asleep on the soft sand, using airplane pillows that they had personally salvaged or just sweatshirts to protect their faces from the grainy surface. They were probably all wishing that this was some kind of dream and when they woke up, it would be safe in their own bed.

I knew this wasn't true. One of the reasons I wasn't sleeping.

There were little fires burning all over the beach. I guess nobody had the idea for the big signal fire that never did anything until a later episode.

_Sayid thought of it. _

_Thanks, _I replied to the part of my mind that had told me that. I was still getting used to having that part of me around, but the universe could be incredibly handy when my own memory fell short.

But that little tidbit of information didn't help with the larger problem at hand. This was Lost. Lost was so epic and so specific and so complex, I was frightened that I would change things just by being here. And in this world, changing one thing could change everything. The important part was, I didn't even know how it ended. There has to be some secret, some reason for the time travel, the other freaky shit that had begun when the sun went down a few hours ago. The smoke monster. Jacob. Richard. The potency of the island. The way nobody could ever find it in a normal way. Where the electricity that had crashed the plane and almost destroyed the island countless times was coming from. Why Dharma was studying it.

So many questions. So many possible answers. So many reasons for me to run away and hide until the universe let me leave.

But…this was only season one. Right now, everything could be explained simply if I didn't look too far forward. I could mend rivalries before they start, save a few lives, make friends, even. **I had the world in my hands, and I didn't know what to do with it. **

I could have gone on that mission. The pilot was dead by now, and I could have prevented that. I could have stopped Jack, Kate, and Charlie from going out in the first place. It wasn't worry that kept me awake in a lonely nighttime vigil, it was more like solidarity. They would return tomorrow morning questioning all they had ever believed.

I sighed, pining for my iPod. It was fully charged, but I wanted to save that, just in case. I didn't know what occasion would really require a fully charged iPod, but I knew that if I used it now, that would come back to bite me later.

I broke down and listened to my iPod the next day. I managed to fall asleep without it around two in the morning, and woke up with the sun because that's what happens when you're on a beach and the sky is cloudless. Almost everybody was up around the same time because of this, and it wasn't long before Kate, Jack, and Charlie stumbled back into camp, bloody and shell shocked.

I had made an effort to avoid the main characters so far, but as I had decided last night, I was here, I was supposed to be here, and I just had to roll with it. I joined the group that was quickly surrounding them and listened to Jack talk about what had happened. I needed a season one refresher anyway, if I was going to be able to change anything.

Somehow, I ended up walking down the beach with Kate and Auby to look for coconut trees. I still wasn't all too sure about Auby, but it helped my persona to stick around her.

I think they were talking, but I couldn't really tell. I had gotten these awesome new headphones in Yeiverica that were noise canceling and perfect for me. I let the Fray's words hammer themselves into my head and tried not to think of Drew as music so often provoked.

"Emily?" Auby asked, and I removed my headphones, getting the impression that she had called the name a few times. It was the name on my passport, the name I was apparently expected to use for this universe. That didn't make it mine. Even the name my parents had given me wasn't really mine.

"Yeah? Sorry, the music was on a little loud." I grinned sheepishly. "What?"

"I was just going to ask if you know anything about tree-climbing," Kate asked. "I know shaking the coconuts down works in the movies and all, but it doesn't seem like it would be all that productive here."

I actually remembered several times throughout the series where they had shaken coconuts out of trees, but I refrained from mentioning that. "I-" I began, and then stopped. Did I know anything about climbing? These last few universes, I hadn't needed to. I could get wherever I wanted to by sky. I never needed to do something so frivolous, so human as to climb a tree.

And I hated more than anything to admit it, but I was scared to try. For the first time in nearly a year, I had to be afraid of falling. There was no backup here, no way for me to know I was safe from any height.

If you don't know what it's like to fly, you can't possibly have any idea what it's like to once have been able to and then not. It's more than simply being afraid of heights. It's being afraid of heights that used to be exhilarating, and open, and your whole world.

Looking up the coconut tree and knowing that simply snapping my fingers wouldn't cut it this time, I would fall to the ground any maybe die, I just couldn't.

"I'm not exactly great with heights," I lied through my teeth. "I can just monitor from down here, maybe? Stack the coconuts for you?" I smiled to emphasize my truthfulness and innocence.

"I've never climbed a coconut tree before," Auby said. At least Auby and Kate were both wearing sneakers. I had ditched mine this morning for a pair of abandoned blue flip-flops.

"I'm sure it's not too hard. They do it in the movies all the time," Kate said as she grabbed onto one herself. Kate, I knew, was really, really good at this. Auby, I kind of wanted to see try.

I supervised for a few minutes and then got bored as my two new acquaintances inched their way up their respective trees.

"You know, you're in about the same position when you get blown forward in time in the first episode of season six," Auby said.

Kate turned around- not an easy feat when she had her legs wrapped securely around the bending trunk of the coconut tree. "What did you say?"

"About three years from now, you end up about thirty years in the past. Jack gets you back to 2007 by detonating a hydrogen bomb. Nobody really ever understood how that worked, but it gets you back. Then you almost fall out of a tree," Auby repeated casually.

"Is this a dream you had or something?" Kate asked, beginning to question the sanity of the young teen. Maybe the plane crash was getting to her or something.

Auby laughed at the irony- wasn't all of this the dream? "Nope. It's what's going to happen. Just warning you," she said.

Kate yanked one last coconut free and threw it down to Emily, then started quickly climbing back down, wanting to get as far away from Auby as possible.

"Does anyone know any more interesting beach games?" I asked. It was a few days after the events of 1x12, Whatever the Case May Be, and now it was pretty much just killing time until I would have to decide whether or not to intervene with Boone and Locke's expedition into the jungle, thus preventing Boone's death and a bunch of issues with Charlie and Locke, but probably messing up the sequence of so much else. I should be planning damage control, not playing beach games with a bunch of misfits.

"Most of the beach games I know involve alcohol and ladies," Sawyer said from his airplane chair a few feet away. I couldn't tell what he was reading- it was either an intelligent novel or a pornographic magazine. He had finished Watership Down a few days ago.

"We could have a sand castle contest," Boone suggested. Nobody knew how to respond to that.

"Truth or dare?" Auby suggested. "It's not really a beach game, but it's a way to pass the time."

"I'll be up for that," Sawyer said, sliding his sunglasses down his face and turning to face us. "Nothin' like a little Truth or Dare."

"Sounds like fun," Claire said, picking up her towel and moving closer to us. Hurley also nodded his affirmation and removed his headphones.

"What's going on?" Walt asked as he came over to us. In the weeks we'd been here, Walt seemed to have acquired some kind of puppy dog attachment to Auby and now sat next to her on the sand.

"We're just about to start a round of Truth or Dare," Hurley filled in.

"You up for it, squirt?" Sawyer asked, his eyes almost twinkling.

"Sure. I guess," Walt replied, glancing around at everyone. I smiled encouragingly. Moments like these were one of my favorite parts of this inter- universal travel thing. I could sit here and play truth or dare with people I knew everything about. Well, and Auby.

"I'll start," Claire said, surprising us. "Hurley, truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said, stretching out his legs.

"What artist were you just listening to?" she asked, keeping it tame.

"What kind of lame-ass question is that?" Sawyer asked.

Auby pretended to put her hands over Walt's ears. "Language!" she said sarcastically. I smirked. Anyone who could face off Sawyer like that was a friend of mine.

Surprisingly, Sawyer didn't even argue. "Whatever you say, 'bopper," he said back, finally giving Hurley a chance to respond to his question.

"Uh, this never leaves this beach, right?" Hurley asked. Hm, maybe this was a tougher question than I had thought.

"Depends if we ever leave this beach," Sawyer pointed out.

"This never leaves this circle of beach," Auby assured, making a fake circle with her hands. "C'mon, tell us."

"Carrie Underwood," Hurley muttered under his breath, just loud enough for us all to hear.

Sawyer was cruel enough to actually laugh. Not that I was surprised. "I have some of her music on my iPod," I encouraged truthfully. "Hurley, your turn."

"Okay, Sawyer," he challenged. Sawyer chose truth, and Hurley started asking "When was the last time you-" Auby caught him with a not too well concealed cough, and Hurley turned her way and noticed Walt. "Um, never mind. New question, new question…what's the worst nickname someone's ever called you?"

I think the entire circle smirked. He so, so deserved this one. "Nobody calls me nicknames. They're too scared of what I'll do in retaliation," he said, smirking.

"Oh, no. Answer the question," I said. I was actually curious about this one. Several fics I had read had explored the psychology behind Sawyer's policy of constant nicknaming, but it would have to be really good to convince me that it wasn't just for the damn fun of it.

"Some cocky kid I met once always used to call me Tex. Annoying as hell. Alright, Hazel, you're up."

"Truth," I said, before I realized that nobody was supposed to call me Hazel on this universe. Damn- hopefully that slip up could be salvaged. Damn universe trying to trick me. "What did you just call me?"

"Hazel, as I assume you know since you so readily responded to it," Sawyer replied, giving me a funny, condescending look. "Anyway, how old were you when you had your first kiss?"

"Look who's turned into a teenage girl," I couldn't resist saying. "I was fourteen, and it was with my best friend who became my boyfriend after that night."

"That's adorable," Claire said, smiling encouragingly. I smiled back, though it was tinged with sadness thinking of Claire's own love life. And the rest of her life, actually. She had never even shown back up in the series after disappearing with the smoke monster. And that was after losing first her boyfriend and then her son.

Even thinking of that, that one, not really all that significant storyline, that feeling of hopelessness came over me again. I couldn't fix this universe any more than a cockroach could fix a city devastated by nuclear warfare. There was too much, it was too big, I was too small.

That was the day I really, truly gave up.

"What's up?" Walt asked me. Here was another chance!

"Did you know that your dad kills two good people in a few months?" I asked. Walt looked shocked, and I smiled, planning to lie about what I had just said. Messing with this universe was damn fun, and when everything got screwed u enough, I would be off it.

"Why would she say that?"

It was early in the morning, and I hadn't thought anyone else on the beach would be awake. I halted myself to eavesdrop on Michael's concerned voice. "I dunno," Walt replied. "But I know she said it. She lied about it afterword and said that my dad had just killed a fish. But I know what she said!"

"So Auby thinks I'm going to kill two people sometime. What, does she think she's psychic or something?"

"I guess," Walt replied. That answer was enough to unfreeze me and send my though process reeling. Auby, telling Walt that Michael was going to kill two people? That happened in season two and he blamed himself for the rest of his life, until he died in season four.

Auby couldn't know that. It was the future, it wasn't possible for her to know. If she had been psychic just like Desmond had she would have at least been a canon character…

Shit.

She wasn't a canon character in the same way I wasn't a canon character. She wasn't from this universe. Just like me.

I was somewhat torn between slapping myself, going into Michael and Walt's tent to maintain some sense of control over the universe, or running off to find Auby. The latter, clearly the more important option, won out.

What was she doing? Telling the characters about the future was something I had always refrained from except in the most menial circumstance. What Auby had told Michael was definitely not menial. And in Lost, _nothing _was menial. They couldn't know who we were, what we knew about them. I had a few things to set straight with Auby, once I found her and got over the shock of her existence. I had thought it was just me and Drew.

Her tent was empty, with the most recent looking footprints leading toward the jungle. Towards the cliff where Hurley had almost jumped off once and I'd been staying away from as a rule. What was she doing?

I followed the route she had taken into the forest.

She was there, standing on a rock, only a few feet away from the cliff. My breath stopped short.

Daybreak.

I stood at the top of the cliff, letting the wind blow right through my scant attire and straight into me, chilling my heart and forming goosebumps on my flesh.

Maybe if I froze and turned into a statue, I would finally wake up from this dream turned nightmare.

Hadn't I done enough? I had screwed everything up. So what was I still doing here?

"Hi, Auby. Or whatever you're real name is," a spiteful voice came from behind me.

She was there, her long brown hair blowing back in the strong southbound wind, a mirror image of my own. I barely had to turn to see her, the worst nightmare of all. Emily- the other one who didn't belong here. I had recognized it from day one. Somehow, this girl was trapped here in the same way I was.

But not the same. Not the same at all. This one wanted it. She liked being torn away from her family, her life, her very self. I couldn't ever be like that. How could she embrace something so deceptively terrible?

"Hi, Emily. Or whatever your real name is," I said, adding the last part in snide sarcasm. My real name was Auby. Always had been, since I was nine months old and couldn't pronounce the "r" in Aubrey.

"I usually go by Hazel, actually," she responded, and I knew that I should be surprised, but instead I just felt empty. Her name didn't matter. This world didn't matter. Only my life mattered.

"Great. I don't care," I said truthfully, my voice still snide and mocking. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing what you're doing here, actually," she said. "I followed you from the beach. Where we're both staying because we both know that they stop living in the caves in the middle of season one anyway."

So she had figured it out. That didn't come as a surprise at all, this had taken her way too long. "Yep. And the TV series romanticizes the caves. They're too dark even during the day and they smell like sulfer," I said.

"You do realize you've probably killed them all by now, right?" she said, matching my abrasive tone.

"Yep," I said. "What's it to you?"

"I was sent here to fix this world from anything that went wrong in the original. I'm assuming you were, too, so I don't even know why you're being like this. She didn't, like, tell you to come antagonize me, did you?" For all the pseudo friendship we had had, apparently Emily –Hazel- had never learned of my intense dislike of the word "like" where it was unnecessary.

But that wasn't the issue right now. "Who's she?" I asked, practically spitting but honestly curious.

Hazel approached the rock I had boosted myself onto, stepping on other rocks and grinding her feet a little, but stopped several meters away from the cliff edge. Huh. So apparently one of us here was actually afraid to die on this universe. "She is what I call the Universe. The thing that transports us around ot these universes so we can fix them," she said calmly.

Finally, I whirled around, worn-out sneakers spinning smoothly on the gravelly rock. "Universes? Plural?" I asked. It was pretty windy. Was I hearing this right? Was this girl even sane?

"This is my fifth," Hazel replied, and she –get this- she _smirked. _Probably at my insolence and apparent stupidity, but I took it straight to heart. "I'm guessing this is number one for you. Which is probably why I'm here," she finished.

I dropped my arms to my sides and let my hair blow in front of my face. Universes. A lot of them. What I had been doing- was it that wrong? Did I not have a choice? Was this really not a dream at all?

I had hardly moved since she'd come and was still standing on the rock. Hazel was standing behind me, probably with some bitchy expression that I wouldn't be able to stand.

"This is number one for me," I said. "And this will be _the only _number for me."

"Why is that?" Hazel asked, her voice sounding neutral but I read it as mocking.

"Because I messed up," I said loudly, as though the louder I said it, the more likely it would be for whatever Hazel thought was in the sky to hear me. "I killed this universe. I would _so _not be surprised if this entire universe just totally blew up by next season."

"How could you even do that?" Hazel asked, sounding legitimately appalled. "They're people-"

"No they aren't!" I screamed, feeling my face grow hot. How could she be so insolent, so impossible? How could she not see all that was wrong with this? "They are FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, Emily. I don't care if they die. I don't care if I kill them, because it never happened."

"Yes it did. It is. It's happening now, and I tried to stop you, and I failed. What do you _want, _Auby?"

"I want to go back," I answered truthfully and immediately. "I want to get off this godforsaken island. I want to get out of this stupid, stupid dream and get back to my life." Too much honesty. Why was I loading this all on a complete stranger, and one who couldn't understand me, nonetheless?

There was a reason for all of this. There was a reason I was here, and she was here, and why we were _here. _Maybe if I did the ultimate drastic thing, it would all go back to normal.

What the hell was she doing? What kind of freaking _idiot _stands on a rock, only a few feet from a cliff?

It all came out as we talked. She kind of told me her life story, which was half amusing and half sad and half just scary, when she got to talk about killing people. Could anyone really be that naïve? She thought that trying to get people killed, _messing up _as she called it, would get her back home. Well, newsflash, Auby: nothing gets you back home.

Admittedly, Drew or I had never had chance or reason to resort to such an idiotic strategy. On our first universe, the Whoniverse as the Earthling fans called it and we continued to call it even once we were there, we had been having the time of our lives. We'd hung out with characters, given advice, saved lives, and when we were ready to go home, we tried and failed. But even after that, we didn't care much. I hung out on the Teen Titans universe for awhile after a brief visit to the Animorphs, and Drew did our thing on Thunderbirds and that other stupid book series that he liked…what was it called? After that, we had met up in Yeiverica like a dream come true.

*I never liked wearing dresses. Ever. With a boy as my childhood best friend and two younger brothers and a sister who had been tomboyish from the start, I had developed what seemed like a permanent aversion to the flowing, girly garments. Yeiverica changed that. I had always meant to style my girl characters in flowy, toga like things and leggings, but I had never thought twice about making ceremonial and special clothes dressier. But, I came to realize, the green, white, and black wedding gowns were pretty. The pretty, kind of short dresses that dancers wore at gatherings were, too.

I started wearing dresses on Yeiverica. Only for special occasions, and even then I owned only a few. I liked the feel of freedom in my legs and the swathy material brushing against me smoothly. It was by default that Drew and no one else learned my new secret: I liked to wear dresses.*

"Auby, be reasonable," I said, trying to stall. I wasn't Doc Phil. I wasn't one of those suicide hotline people who helped people for free. I was just another person, trying to relate. "I haven't gone home yet. I really don't think anything you do is going to change that for you."

"You haven't done what I've done," she said dismissively. She still hadn't turned toward me and I wondered if she was crying. "I'm a terrible person!" she shouted at the heavens. I hoped that Madame Cosmos wouldn't hear her. It wouldn't be fair.

"So am I," I said good-naturedly. "Have I ever told you about the time I destroyed a universe?" Sometimes my talent to lightly joke about things that greatly disturb me scares me. I had never even told Drew about what I had done to the Teen Titans universe.

"You're just going to make something up because you're a perfect person and you would never do such a thing," Auby replied, and now I could be pretty sure she was crying from the way her voice was cracking. I didn't even understand how anyone would want to go home that badly.

But then again, my home had not been a fun place to be. My mom had died when I was nine and my dad was abusive and sort of a tyrant. I had three younger siblings, and it had been my job to take care of them. I had been _glad _to get out of that. Get out of being Alexandra Jane Marin and become Hazel full-time. Glad to start living my life as I had always wished it, having always been too realistic to so much as dream of it.

Staring at Auby, I realized that I had no idea what she had once upon a time in another universe had. I knew my family would be totally in pieces without me, with the kids hopefully together in foster care by now. I knew I had been the one holding all that together. And now that I was gone…

I really didn't know what could have happened. And I never would. Suddenly, for the first time in four universes, I wanted to go back too, just to see how they were doing. But unlike Auby, I knew that was impossible.

First she was trying to preach about how great these "universes" were, and now she was going to tell me about the time she had destroyed one? I almost laughed. The closest perfect Hazel had probably ever come to destroying a universe was writing a bad fanfic at age ten.

"Please, enlighten me," I said after a considerable silence. Tears from the wind were spilling over my eyelids. Yes, all from the wind. None of them from how much I missed my family and Rennie and soccer and home and life. None of it from what I thought I might have to risk to get back there.

Another tear slipped down my cheek. Okay, maybe some of them were real.

*"Oh my God," I said, staring blankly at what was on the screen of Evelyn's pirated laptop.

"That's disgusting," Rennie stated simply. We were twelve years old, fresh out of sixth grade, and we had just read our first slashy fanfiction, written by Rennie's pretty, bubbly older sister.

"I don't ever think I'll think of Evelyn the same way again," I said, not caring about how much I mixed up my words.

"I know I'll never think of Dean and Sam the same way again," Rennie added. "Actually, I kind of want to watch that episode of Supernatural now. Just to see where she's getting it from…"

"You're already developing your sister's perverted mind," I replied. "That said, let's go watch!" We giggled and snuck downstairs (snuck because it was one in the morning and we weren't supposed to be awake) Evelyn's illegal DVD of Supernatural season two. Sleepovers with Rennie had been one of the highlights of my young life.*

"It was the DC comics universe, technically," Hazel said. "But I spent most of it hanging out with the Teen Titans." She paused as if to figure out how to tell the story. "In season four of the cartoon, some intense shit with a demon happens and the universe gets destroyed. Robin somehow saves everyone through a precise series of actions that could go no other way." She paused again, and I waited for the punch line. Was she actually being serious here? "I got Robin killed in season two."

Well, that was not at all what I had been expecting. "I'm sure it wasn't your fault," I said, kind words dripping with sarcasm.

"It was. All of it," Hazel said. "That entire universe, destroyed. Just think about it for a sec. An entire universe, and all on me."

Hazel's voice was cracking now, and I got the feeling she didn't usually make a habit of talking about this experience. That, if anything, made me believe she was genuine. But I still didn't like her. "I have thought about it," I said, as though speaking to a small child. Duh. "I have thought a lot about it. And I know that the difference between you and me is that you're the only one who doesn't want these universes destroyed."

My God, what did I even have left to play? Where could I go for Auby now? I had just given her one of my biggest secrets, by far my biggest regret. And what was she doing? Denying it. Stupid bitch.

(Appreciate that sassy gay friend moment. That doesn't happen too often with me.)

The sun was shining, and even from high up I could hear the waves crashing on the rocks below through the bellow of the wind. But that was what Lost was all about, right? The bittersweet union of a picturesque setting and grotesque, awful, tragic things that could happen in it.

I didn't understand her. At this point, I was pretty sure I never would. "What do you want from me?" I asked outright. I had to know. I hated this girl, but the universe had made her my responsibility and I knew from personal experience that I would blame myself forever if I watched her die.

"You know what I want. I want to get the hell off this universe," Auby replied bitterly. "I'll do anything. Whatever's necessary, I swear."

I found myself imagining what I would have been like if I had been Auby, thrust into such a complicated universe alone and unprepared. It wasn't fair to her on Madame Cosmos's part. I had Drew, and when I had to be split from Drew it was okay, because even when I hadn't been sure if I would see him again, I had known that whatever I had to do, I could do alone. Auby had never had that chance.

*If there was one thing I knew well, it was loneliness. I had been alone from the moment Drew and I left the Whoniverse to the moment we'd spotted each other on Yeiverica. I had friends on the other universes, sure, but not friends I always, always sought out for a conversation we could have on anything and everything all at once, who always understood what I was thinking, and who I even particularly liked. Drew was the best thing that had ever been in my life and when I saw him again it was like waking up from a dreamless night.*

Was it killing myself that Hazel's universe wanted me to do, or kill her? Or was it up to me to decide?

It would be so easy. The water was hundreds of feet down an inward cliff face. I could take three steps forward and crash against the rocks within seconds.

"Just stop and think for a second. Why do you want to leave? I thought the Universe would only close people who had spent their entire lives dreaming of this- people like me," Hazel said, reasonable until the last three words.

"There are no people like you," I said. And I thought this girl was smart. Well, here was a little eye opener called common sense. "And all I know is that I don't want to be here."

Hazel was silent for a few seconds and then changed tactics. Like she could stop me. This was my battle, and my choice. I still wasn't sure if she existed. "Think of where we are. It's Lost, Auby. The one thing I know about you for sure is that at some point, you were completely obsessed with Lost." This was true. I had spent years writing Lost fanfiction and debating theories with my best friend and my English teacher. But none of that mattered anymore.

"I don't care anymore," Auby said. "Sure, the Lost universe has been in a few of my crazier dreams and fanfics before, but this is different. It's wrong. I'm not supposed to be here."

Hazel was quiet for another few seconds, and I began to even more seriously consider throwing myself off the cliff. I think I had shifted some of my weight to my forward facing foot when, finally, she said, "You're running, Auby." A Lost relate. Of course.

It was the smile that did her in. The delight with which she could say such a cruel thing. I knew that she enjoyed these universes, these connections, in some sick way, but I just couldn't imagine _why _anyone would so enjoy being ripped up from their life and taken to this god-awful place.

I suppose I wasn't thinking clearly when I stepped down off the rock and pushed her over the edge. But I knew that I would never regret it.

Fear of falling. For seconds, it seized my bones, made it impossible to think. There was only the wind in my face, normally a nice, familiar feeling but now inciting terror. I was going to die crashing into those rocks. I was going to die, here on this universe, without my rightful powers. And all because of _her. _

If I could breathe I would have screamed.

Moments before I would have hit the rocks, I felt the abyss wrap around me like a warm, terrifying blanket.

END Part 1

Filler: Drew  
>Thunderbirds<p>

First off, I have to say that Thunderbirds was one of my favorite movies ever when I was a kid. I watched it countless times. I knew this universe like the back of my hand.

I was thrown onto the universe in a school uniform and was generally accepted at the Massachusetts boarding school. I made sure to befriend Alan Tracy and was actually able to almost keep up with parts of Fermat's random scientific drabbling.

One day, only a few days before spring break, the entire school was riveted by a Thunderbirds news thingy where they saved a bunch of people, and when we were dismissed to classes I stuck with Alan. "I know that they're your brothers," I said. A few days later, it was just Fermat and Drew that were invited to Tracy Island for Spring Break.

I talked with each of them, especially Virgil because he had always been my favorite from the original series. The first few days were immensely fun, and I think I helped tone down Alan's temper tantrums. Regrettably, I couldn't do anything to stop Thunderbird Five from being hit without looking suspicious, and honestly I had been wanting to live this movie my whole life. So, sorry John.

I ran to the beach with Fermat to find Alan angrily skipping stones and met up with Alan and Tintin. I made sure that none of them fell off the motor scooter by screwing the back part in extra tight and then we went to unlock the freezer ourselves, saving everyone from a little awkwardness. The triumphant moments were so great I felt like the background music from the actual movie was playing.

I went down with the rest of them to the bank and kind of stood by the side, watching Alan and Tintin's epic moments. It was the sweetest universe ever, and it all turned out perfectly.

At the end, on the last night of Spring Break, Mr. Tracy offered me the little honorary Thunderbird wing things. Unfortunately, I had to decline. No sense in wasting a pair when I was going to disappear soon.

I even got to ride back to the boarding school before I disappeared. That universe was the epitome of awesome.

That's How it Goes  
>(aka, I meet Hazel's arch nemesis and we hang out with demon hunters)<p>

I used to play the trombone.

I started in fourth grade. Our teacher had a musical instrument "petting zoo day" and we got to try a bunch of different things out. My first choice was clarinet, because that was Hazel's first choice, but for my second, I thoughtlessly put trombone. I liked the shininess of it, the way the too light for its appearance instrument felt in my hands. It was a miracle that I got my second choice. I loved improvising, playing wherever my fingers felt like going. I liked everything about it. I made sophomore symphony orchestra as a freshmen- one of three of us. I loved my trombone. That day, I set it down on the side of the road so it wouldn't get damaged. Maybe it's still there.

The highlight of my life used to be soccer.

I'd been playing soccer for almost as long as I could remember. About three-quarters of the girls in my first and second grade classes had played soccer, then the ones who weren't as athletic or skilled or just didn't like it began to drop out. But I stuck with it, through the transition from the kids' league to travel, to modified in the fall in middle school and JV in eighth grade. I was good at soccer. There were few triumphs like the moment you scored a goal and everyone on your team was around you, offering high fives and support and you couldn't stop smiling and just wanted the play to start again so you could score another one. If I didn't play soccer, maybe I would never have known Kate Adams. And if I hadn't known her, I wouldn't have walked to her house on that fatal day. I have to wonder if it was all worth it.

Hazel used to be my best friend.

From the start, we were together all the time. We grew up as next door neighbors, always mindful of the cliché that came with that relationship. We were always so alike. Or rather, we created each other and consequently ended up alike. Morse code messages into each other's windows when we were kids turned into Hazel jumping off her freaking roof in the middle of the night just to come sit next to me. We always knew what the other knew, practically what the other was thinking. I made her watch Naruto with me on Yeiverica, she forced me into watching Torchwood. And it worked. It always worked. We had always assumed we'd go to college together, never separate. Until we were forced apart.

I used to lead a double life.

At school, at soccer, at Kate and Julie's houses, I was Auby Harris, forward for the Junior Blasts and bubbly, nice, occasionally hyper teammate. I could slip into that persona for hours, even days, barely coming out of it. It was so easy. It was a façade, perhaps not even a good one, but it worked for me. At night, in my room, at sleepovers with Rennie, I was someone else. This was the Auby Harris (dreamz101) who wrote fanfiction, and watched television illegally on her laptop when her parents thought she was sleeping, and the one who was happier. I started dividing my life so many years ago, I don't even know which one is more real. I used to lead a double life. Now, I don't need to. And that in itself scares me.

I used to hate my parents.

My dad hated me, I decided early on. Always, always he wanted me to be doing things that a normal boy should be doing. I preferred writing to sports, hanging out with Hazel to video games. That was just who I was. From the start, he refused to accept it. He enrolled me in baseball three years in a row, even though it was clear after one that I could not play baseball at all, and sent me to my grandfather's house for a week ever summer before he died to go fishing, which I was opposed to since I had read an article on some website Evelyn had been browsing about how even catch and release fishing hurt and killed the fish and the ecosystems. My mom was no help. I don't even really know what she thought about all of it. She always kept her distance, let my dad try to craft me into whatever kind of son he wanted. Now, I'm free. I'm glad of it. But I wish I could go back and ask why. Why did they do that to me?

I used to have a best friend.

Rennie Johnson. We were kind of neighbors- I could cut through the small wooded area behind my house, jump over a stream, and I was there. Rennie had never been popular, pretty, or any of the things I half was and half desired. I think I became friends with her in the first place because she just didn't care. She read manga books at school and got teased, but she ignored them and never bothered refining herself like I would have. She was small and skinny and wore glasses, but to me she always seemed strong. For never letting that get to her. Rennie had inherited her love of things like fanfiction and fandom and the wonderfulness that was the internet from her sister Evelyn, I had inherited it from Rennie. I never talked to her in school. Ever. Even when we were in the same classes. But she was fine with it. She never questioned the lies I told my other friends, the reason I never seemed to be able to walk home with her. Now, I wish I had. I want to go back and apologize for treating her so badly, when she opened the world that became my entire life to me.

I used to wish for adventure.

I used to wish for freedom.

I used to want to be somewhere with just Hazel, no parents.

I used to think I was happy.

I want to be back there, more happy than I am now.

I never thought I would wish to be back there.

I woke up.

I woke up.

_Thank you, _I thought gratefully to no one in particular. I was home. When I opened my eyes, I would be in my own house, and everything that had just happened would merely be a terrible dream.

I opened my eyes.

It was dark. That's why I didn't notice right away. It was dark, and there were stars above my head. _Where the hell is my ceiling? _Somehow, the last thing I noticed was the cold.

I had been wearing shorts and a tank top on the island. When I'd phased from my own world, I had been wearing longer shorts and at least a light jacket. Now, I was wearing the latter.

I was still dreaming.

I stood up, my legs and arms goosepimpled and already numb from the cold. I had to find someplace warmer, _fast. _

Ignoring my less logical thoughts, I looked around the area I was in, starting to move around so my body wouldn't succumb to hypothermia as fast. I was on a city street, it was nighttime, and it must have been thirty degrees out.

My assumption about the temperature became truth when a snowflake landed on my arm and didn't even melt. Maybe twenty degrees.

I walked down the street, fruitlessly rubbing my arms. Alone, barely clothed, and in the middle of winter. Nothing was open, and the street I was on was dark and empty. No one wanted to be out in this weather at this hour, whatever hour it _was, _even with proper clothing.

I spotted a more brightly lit area up ahead and walked faster toward it. The chill was beginning to numb my mind, too, and colors were blurrier and greyer.

The brightly lit spot was a bar.

I'm fourteen years old. I'm not even allowed to go into bars.

I suppose I'm not technically allowed to break into the clothing stores next door to them, either. But I went with the second option.

Some idiot had left the side door open, leading to the alley between the store and the bar. I slipped inside into pitch blackness. It probably wasn't all that much warmer inside, but it was above freezing and for that I was grateful.

Maybe the cold was numbing my brain enough for it to go into some weird kind of autopilot, because I grabbed a heavy sweatshirt and jeans, ducked behind the register to use the magnetic things to get the alarm triggering things off, dressed in the more weather appropriate clothes plus gloves and was out the same door within minutes.

I've never robbed a store before. I don't even know how to use the little magnetic thingies that get the magnets off clothes. But it got done. Just then, I wasn't thinking about it.

It was a strange feeling, looking back on it. Utter apathy, cold affiances. I didn't think once about what I had just done, what I wanted to do, there was only that which I needed. I didn't let myself pretend, I only did. And that's probably the reason I survived the first hour.

I don't enjoy being in cities. Never have. They're too big, too full of people, too busy to capture a real place.

Cold is another of my least favorite things. I prefer summer over winter. When I was a little kid, I would always celebrate my birthday in June instead of December so I could have it outside. I was not naturally a cold-bearer. And while we're at it, it was completely unnatural for me to be outside at night without Hazel.

So imagine my joy when I landed, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, in a city in Northern America during winter in the middle of the night.

Because I happen to be a sane person on some level, the first thing I did was unzip my backpack and put on a long sleeved shirt over my t-shirt, and a sweatshirt over that. Even through the extra layers, I could feel my skin turning goosey.

_Okay. I have to figure out where I am, then I can figure out what to do next, _I thought calmly. I looked around, assessing my surroundings and allowing mild surprise that I was not, in fact, on a rooftop. Maybe that joke had gotten old. Or maybe it was just probability. Cities were mostly rooftops.

I chose a direction based on the light and music I could hear radiating from it, and walked briskly down the block, hands stuffed deeply in my pockets.

Caroletta's was the name of the bar. I wondered where I was and if this universe was really strict about letting minors into bars. I really, really needed to acquire a fake ID sometime soon.

As I stood outside the bar, a little to the left across the street so the bouncer didn't think I was about to plant a bomb or something, my answer as to what universe this was and later, the solution to my fake ID problem walked outside and started walking down the block.

Despite the cold, despite the fact that I was alone for this one, I grinned, predicting that this would be the ride of my life.

I stayed in the alley, pacing repeatedly to keep warm. I wasn't tired and had no intention of sleeping tonight, but I knew I needed to find some sort of shelter.

On my sixty sixth pass (I had nothing better to do with my mind than count), I saw him standing just across the street from me. My alley was dark and contrasted with the brightly lit pavement from the light spilling out of the bar, so there was little chance he could have seen me, even as I stood stock still and stared at him.

I knew him. I knew this boy, somehow. Was it some TV show? Was I on another fucking "universe" _again_? That was how Em- Hazel had said it would be, but I hadn't really believed it…

_Hazel. _There was my answer. It was the boy from the pictures. The boy with the long, only slightly wavy golden-brown hair and bright blue eyes (though this was all shadowed from me in the dark and under the hood of his red sweatshirt) who, from Hazel's descriptions, had been her best friend and soulmate.

This must be Drew.

Let me tell you the story of my first major stalking experience.

It's not all that amusing, actually. Sam and Dean Winchester walk out of the bar (yeah, I know the joke cliché's supposed to be the other way around), and I begin following them, since I greatly enjoy stalking people. I was completely expecting something to happen, and was really surprised when they made it back to a little motel a couple blocks away without being attacked by anything.

Since I couldn't actually follow them into the motel without my intentions becoming clear, I kept walking down the street after memorizing the name of the motel and its position. The next thing to do would probably be figure out what city this actually was.

I walked down the street aimlessly, figuring that something would tell me where I was. There had to be a New York something or a Detroit something somewhere around here.

My idea and strategy proved true, and I was able to figure it out within three blocks. I had never heard of Cleveland Boutique, but I had a decent guess about what city it would be in.

"Hello, Cleveland," I said out loud, grinning at the sky.

I watched him go, and, with nothing better to do, I followed. I could go over and tell the Winchesters exactly what happened in season five that would pretty much screw over the entire world if they did even a single thing incorrectly, but I figured that fucking this universe over wouldn't be too smart. Last time, I'd tried that. It hadn't gotten me sent back, it had gotten me sent here.

Hazel might like this life, but I was I didn't. I was getting out of here as soon as I could. But I needed a new strategy.

Hazel, I had pretty much stuck clear of back on the Lost universe. With Drew, this was not going to be the case. Maybe annoying him would be more helpful.

Besides, I don't really care if he was Hazel's, he was cute. This would be a fun person to stalk.

"You're kidding me," Dean said. "I can't do it. Three beers in me, and you're still not going to get me to believe in fairies.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Fairies? There weren't fairies in this universe. Hazel and I had actually discussed the concept and come up with something like the Torchwood fairies, which were powerful, ugly, and enjoyed abducting small children.

Maybe it was just some false lead. Fairies did sound like something Sam from the earlier seasons would believe, and his hair looked like we were in season one or two. Not that I paid a special amount of attention to Sam's hair.

"I'm telling you, Dean, they exist. That Michelle lady saw them, and they didn't sound like any generic fairies I've ever heard of," Sam said.

"Every author with a bad fantasy novel has their own 'original' kind of fairy," Dean pointed out. "Is it just me who was getting the batshit-insane vibes from that lady?"

"She was a little off her rocker, I guess," Sam replied. I walked a little ahead of them, as was proper stalking technique. "But that makes me more inclined to believe her. She sounded to passionate to be lying."

"Did you even ask what drugs she was on? I think talking to fairies in their minds is pretty normal for the people who live in that place. Hey, why don't we go ask the man in the padded room next to her if he believes in fairies? That would come up with just as good a lead."

I smirked, remembering how much I had always loved the Winchester's highly amusing banter, made even more amusing by Dean being slightly drunk.

"That man didn't have his daughter abducted before his eyes," Sam said reasonably, and I couldn't stop myself from missing a step at the word daughter. In Torchwood, Jasmine's mom had seen her abducted…what had her name been?

Why did I keep relating this to Torchwood?

"Abducted. By a bunch of tall hairy things that can transform into little balls of light," Dean said sarcastically.

That did it. I hadn't been wrong. These were the exact same type of fairies I had been thinking of.

I turned around, making my expression enthralled. I met Dean's eyes. "You know about the fairies!" I gasped. Then I made my voice low, enjoying every second of this performance. "You should leave. If they hear you talking about it, they'll kill you!"

"Okay, hold on, kid," Dean said. I would have smiled, if I hadn't been continuing my fairy crazy façade. "What do you know about these guys?"

"Th- they're devils," I gasped, eyes wide and probably making me look batshit insane. "They'll kill you, I know it!"

"How?" Sam asked, looking kind of perplexed at my act. Sam's random faces were another thing I had always loved about this show.

"Rose petals," I whispered. Dean looked up at me. Yes! A reaction! I was right- these were the fairies I knew.

Of course, even Torchwood hadn't been able to stop those fairies. They killed whatever they felt like, and no one prevented them from taking what they wanted.

"Wait, so you know about these fairies?" Dean asked. "How? Where'd you hear about them?"

"My sister was abducted," I said, making my crazier expression look like I was about to cry. Acting crazy is damn fun, I tell you. "They killed our babysitter, and they took her. I was upstairs, but she left a note. 'The fairies took me, but don't worry. I'm happy now.' Don't worry! They're probably torturing her right now!"

Dean and Sam looked at each other with twin what the hell are we supposed to do with this kid? faces. I smiled. Like the crazy person I was.

I followed them.

Drew followed Dean and Sam. I followed Drew. I'm sure he noticed me- why on Earth had I decided to swipe a bright pink sweatshirt, of all things? But while I was failing at staking him, Drew was doing a grand job of stalking the Winchesters. He left a printout from a website about fairies outside their hotel room as I watched from across the street.

Fairies. There hadn't been any fairies in any episode of Supernatural I had ever seen, but I had skipped a bunch around the earlier seasons. Drew seemed to be doing a fine job of guiding them in the right direction, though.

One night, Dean drove up from a side street- I was on one side, Drew on the other. The headlights illuminated Drew. Then, practically as one, Dean and Sam jumped out of the car, restrained him, and stuffed something in his mouth that I'm pretty sure was chloroform.

Maybe he hadn't been as discreet a stalker as I'd thought.

I'm actually kind of proud that my first thought when I was in a grungy hotel room, tied to a chair and with a spinning headache, was '_are you fucking kidding me?'_

Gradually, my vision cleared up and the pounding in my head receded some. I was alone in the room, but I had a sneaking suspicion of how I had ended up here. Stupid Winchesters and their trust issues.

I squirmed against the rope, but I couldn't even feel the knot with my hands. These dudes could keep demons tied up, I didn't stand a chance.

"Great, you didn't kill him," an all too familiar voice said as the door became unlocked. I had to blink to assert that it was Dean. Sam followed him inside, holding a takeout bag.

"Yeah, thanks for that," I said, hoping that they would appreciate sarcasm. I knew that I was in some pretty deep shit right here.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"My name is Drew," I said, because even though Hazel might get a kick out of using aliases, they just annoyed me. "And yourself?"

"We have a feeling that you already know that," Dean replied, digging into a carton of some kind of Chinese food as he interrogated me.

"So what do you want?" I asked, relaxing a bit because neither of them had pulled a gun on me yet.

"We want you to tell us where you came from and how you know everything about us," Sam said, sitting down on the bed across from me.

I would have hit my head against a wall if there had been one in the vicinity of my chair. I hadn't even thought to think of a story to go with a moment like this. That had been a stupid mistake on my part, and now I was going to pay for it.

"Uh," I stalled, and not five seconds later Dean crossed the room and slapped me across the face.

"Talk," he ordered.

Much as it stung, I knew that he was capable of much more.

I saw it all.

Through stalking, the main thing I had learned was that the Winchesters could be idiots sometimes. Like right now, they were interrogating a young teenager with the window open. Fail much? I could see everything.

If that stupid window hadn't been open, I would have walked away, knowing that Drew was just going to end up hanging out and getting all chummy with them, not once considering what they were really capable of.

But even when I saw Dean hit Drew in the face, I was frozen. I knew this wasn't supposed to happen- Drew was from my world, just like Hazel was. He was just as human as me, even on this place. And I knew enough about SPN to know that the Winchesters could genuinely kill him.

Hazel would have already saved him and I needed to prove that she was really no better than me. With that thought, I took action.

There was a flower bush just under the Winchester's window, and the garden was contained by a row of rocks. Hiding in the bush, hopefully totally concealed from all sides, I threw the rock through the window.

Since the motel they were currently staying in was kind of a dump, no alarms or anything went off. I heard glass shatter and fall to the floor inside.

"What the hell?" Dean yelled.

"Do you think it was them?" asked Sam urgently. Oh, they thought I was the fairies. Smooth thinking on my part, even if that hadn't been my intention.

Two pairs of feet ran out of the room- Drew was alone now. I popped up from the bush and reached inside the hole I had created in the window to unlock it. I slid the window up, and since this was a crap motel and it creaked, Drew finally looked over.

"Was that you?" he asked, looking over at me with a bit of blood on his mouth and a red cheek. Okay, this had definitely been a good idea. I had never wanted to see a real person hurt.

"Yep," I said as I climbed in the window, careful to avoid glass shards, and then crossed the room to untie his hands. "Let's get out of here."

"Thanks and all that, but who are you?" Drew asked rather rudely but with a touch of irony about the whole situation. It was ironic. Very SPN.

"I'm just like you are. They'll be back the minute they realize it's not fairies, let's go," I urged.

"Wait, you're _what?" _Drew half yelled. Had he not met another cross-universal traveler before or something?

Actually, that was probable. There probably weren't very many of us. Otherwise, what were the odds of running into two on two different universes who knew each other?

_I'm just like you are. _What the hell was that supposed to mean? She was from another universe? I had thought that it was only Hazel and me traveling that way. Five universes, and I hadn't met another one yet.

"Supernatural, nine pm on Thursdays on the CW. Actually, it got moved to Fridays for the last couple seasons. You catch my drift?"

"Exactly," I replied, rubbing my hand on my bruising cheek. "But…what the hell?"

"We have to get out of here," the girl said. "They're coming back."

"Good. I want to talk to them without my hands tied up," I said confidently. I could make Dean listen. Maybe this girl would eve help. "By the way, what's your name?"

She didn't have time to answer before the Winchesters both burst back into the room. "I knew it!" said Dean, seeing me out and about with a comrade next to me.

"Are you guys trying to escape?" Sam asked.

"Nope, not at all. No ropes necessary," I said, making a jazz hands motion.

"Then talk. Who the hell are you- both of you?" Sam looked kind of anxious about interrogating kids.

"I'm Auby," the blonde girl who had appeared said.

"Drew," I continued, even though I was pretty sure everyone here knew my name. "We're from another universe, and we know all about you guys."

"What do you mean all about us?" Dean asked. I loved this part. I turned to Auby and smiled reassuringly, hopefully conveying that she could jump in whenever she liked.

"Well, when you were kids, your mother was burned alive by the demon Azazel, who you also call Yellow Eyes, and he dripped some of his own blood into Sam's mouth-" I paused hoping Auby would jump in.

"Which is why you and a bunch of other kids about your age have some freaky superpowers, and you're currently on kind of a demon hunt. Anyway, your dad got into hunting demons and stuff right after that and you were kind of raised in a car until Sam ran away to college and Dean was hunting on his own for awhile because your dad disappeared and then you found him-"

"Is there anything specific you want to know?" I asked, getting bored. If this went on much longer we would probably get into revealing dangerous spoilers.

"What's my birthday?" Dean asked.

"January 24th. Same as my friend Rennie's," Auby replied swiftly.

"How old was I when Azazel-"

"Six months," Auby and I said at the same time, not even waiting for the question to finish.

"So, do you believe us?" I asked.

"Wait, so you guys are from some other universe," Sam said, trying to sort it out in his mind. "So, how do you know all about us?"

Good one there. Though we hadn't revealed this bit on the Whoniverse until we'd been there awhile, I decided to just go with it. "You guys are a TV show," I said. "It's called Supernatural, and it airs on Thursday nights on a channel called the CW."

Sam looked kind of shocked, but Dean took it in stride. "Of course it's Thursdays. All the worst shit seems to happen on Thursdays."

"Speaking of that," I continued. "All that bad shit that seems to follow you around? We know your future. We can help."

Dean shook his head. We'd probably just overloaded him with stuff to think about. "Okay, Sam, meeting in the hallway. You brats stay here."

I most certainly did not appreciate being called a brat, but I would have time to remedy that in the future, if they made the logical choice and said yes.

"You want to trust them?" Dean demanded as soon as Sam shut the door on the kids. "How do we know that they're not lying?"

"Why would they?" Sam asked. "They know impossible amounts about us. Either they've been stalking us for years, which I highly doubt, or we're actually featured on a TV show in their world.

"I bet I have more fangirls than you," Dean muttered, then turned serious again. "But what are we going to do with them? Let them guide us and turn us into puppets? That's not the way we work, Sammy."

"Dude, they know our future," Sam intoned. "And they're probably not going to tell us much of it. If we have a chance to save ourselves from whatever bad shit is in our future, we should take it."

"Maybe we could, like, take them for a test run. We've decided that there's nothing we can do about the fairy thing for now. But next case, if they solve it before us, they're in," Dean compromised.

"Fair deal," Sam muttered, and he unlocked the door to go back in and tell the kids.

The next case was a season two episode I had seen like three times. Drew and I passed the test easily. We were in.

A routine quickly developed. They found the case, sometimes with us to speed things up when we remembered the name of the town in the next episode, and we all solved it. More lives were saved. It was great.

Once, after a two hour long rock paper scissors marathon that left my arm sore, Auby suggested a different game. "Let's do something really awkward and personal," she suggested.

"Sorry, no sex. Especially in this car," I said, as awkwardly as possible. However, I correctly interpreted her desire to share as a cry for help and continued with "What do you suggest?"

"A simple question game. I ask you a question, you answer, you ask me a question…you get it?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied, because I was pretty sure my fist couldn't take any more rock paper scissors and my sanity couldn't take any more Geography. "Oh, and how about if you don't answer, you don't get to ask the next one. So you pretty much have to answer." I grinned, not entirely sure what I was getting myself into.

"So, what's your favorite memory ever?" Auby asked casually. That one actually wasn't hard.

"Well, Hazel and I kind of built a universe when we were like eight- by build I mean wrote about- and after awhile traveling separately, we were sent there. Best two months of my life," I said honestly. Of course, I could have specified it more to the night right before we were set to leave, but Auby didn't need to hear that part. "My turn. What's your favorite color?"

Auby paused, as though she was actually contemplating this. "Purple," she said after a minute. "Dark purple, like a grape slushie."

I laughed at the comparison and waited for her next question. "How many girlfriends have you had?" she asked, suppressing a smile at her cleverness.

Nothing to hide here. "One. Hazel. So, um, what was your best friend on your old universe like?"

The game never seemed to end.

I was drained and in need of something resembling coffee after the hours long car ride, but Auby half bounced into the hotel room ahead of me, throwing her backpack on the bed before running off to the ice machine. Before Auby, I hadn't thought it possible to be obsessed with hotel ice machines. But Auby managed, week after week.

This one was apparently right down the hall, and Auby was back within a minute. I had set my stuff on the floor and had four of the crappy pillows under my head, too lazy to reach over and grab the TV remote from the rickety bedside stand thing.

Luckily Auby had the same idea, and she turned the TV on after plopping the now full ice bucket down onto the same table. To humor her, I grabbed a couple pieces as she turned on the television. She had placed it close enough to me that I didn't even have to lift my head.

"What the heck?" Auby asked, puzzled, and I actually began to pay attention to whatever senseless primetime had come up on the default channel. To my surprise, I recognized it- Glee.

"What?" I asked, not understanding Auby's confusion. It was a crap show, but somehow popular. I wasn't surprised that it would be randomly showing.

Auby gave me a strange look, like I was expected to know what she was about to say. She responded anyway. "Glee premiers in 2009. It's only 2006."

"Oh. Right. That," I stalled; not wanting to explain all the theories Hazel and I had come up with on this subject when I was so tired. "That's totally normal, actually. I watched Naruto: Shippuden through 2010 when Hazel and I were on Yeiverica. And I don't even know what year it was on that place. It's one of the things you just have to kind of roll with."

"And this one I'm not complaining about," Auby said, luckily accepting my bullshit explanation. I could explain it better- with all the fun universe leakage and time distortion- in the morning. "I love Glee!"

I groaned. Hazel and I had seen exactly one episode each of Glee and agreed that it was terrible. Neither of us understood how there could be hordes of "Gleeks" for such a terrible show. But then, we proudly called ourselves Whovians and all sorts of other things, so we weren't exactly at a place to question it. "I never liked Glee. Probably because I'm not a huge fan of high school drama or vocal music."

Auby nodded with sarcasm. "That would probably be enough to keep you away from Glee. That's pretty much what it's composed of. I think you would appreciate Sue, though. She's such a bitch, but she's hilarious."

"Which one is Sue?" I asked, not so much out of interest but out so I could bash her quickly and not be forced to watch this abomination any longer.

"She's not in this scene," Auby said, turning the volume down (thank you!) as a couple of the kids spontaneously burst into song. "I always watched Glee with my friend Kate. She was totally obsessed with joining show choir in high school." Auby paused in her chatter, taking on a sadder expression. "I guess I'll never know if she made it."

"If she was as obsessed as you say, I don't doubt it," I said lightly, trying to cheer her up.

"Think obsessed like Sam is obsessed with getting Dean out of hell," Auby said, smirking at the relate. "We would always walk home from soccer practice together last year, and we would pretty much hang out all evening on Tuesdays and watch Glee. And we would always sing this ridiculous stuff when we were walking home."

I laughed, imaging the usually reserved blonde belting bad pop music to the entire world. But then, I if anyone had been witness to the changes some people could bring about in others. Auby had probably been a totally different person around this Kate than she was around me. "Like what?" I asked, expecting her to name 2010 pop songs that I, never having been to the year 2010, would never have heard of.

To my great surprise, instead of responding, Auby started singing. Glee had gone to commercial. "Something has changed within me, something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game." She sang softly, but I recognized the song. Wicked! I had seen that play on our jazz band trip to New York City in the spring of eighth grade.

You probably remember, oh, about two sentences ago, when I said I hated vocal music, right? Well, I make an exception for Wicked. Knowing the song, I chimed right in with her.

"Too late for second guessing  
>Too late to go back to sleep<br>It's time to trust me instincts  
>Close my eyes and leap!"<p>

Auby let me take the chorus on my own, giggling a little, probably at my hypocrisy. At some point, she had shut the TV off. Maybe she didn't like that episode.

"It's time to try  
>Defying gravity<br>I think I'll try  
>Defying gravity<br>And you can't bring me down!"

On the "you" I pointed emphatically at Auby, who giggled a little bit more before joining me for the next verse. I stumbled over some words, but her clear soprano hit every note.

"I'm through accepting limits  
>'Cause someone says they're so<br>Some things I cannot change  
>But 'til I try I'll never know<br>Too long I've been afraid of  
>Losing love I guess I've lost<br>If this is love it comes at  
>Much too high a cost!"<p>

Both our voices kind of died out on the first three words of the next chorus, and after a silence of a few seconds, I said "Kill me now. I feel like I'm on Glee." Auby and I both started laughing at our spontaneity.

Since it was eleven pm, we went to sleep after that. Actually, I'm pretty sure neither of us went to sleep for awhile, contemplating losing love and overcoming limitations and defying gravity.

Drew fell asleep around midnight, I think. At least, he didn't protest when I slipped out of bed, slid on my sneakers and left around twelve ten.

At home, I had spent so, so many nights awake, in the dark, on the computer. With our now erratic sleep schedules, depriving myself of sleep was no longer an issue at all. Was it sad that I missed what I used to do to myself, staying up until eleven or even midnight on school nights to sit and stare at a screen, letting the brain cells I had gained during the day slowly rot away? But still. I missed it.

The lobby was dimly lit, and the complimentary computer was in a little cubby just out of sight of the kind of creepy looking night shift guy at the desk. I smiled vaguely at him to let him know I meant no harm and sat down at the computer- a kind of old, clunky PC equipped with Windows Vista and Mozilla Firefow for surfing the web.

I knew my real screen name, dreamz101, would not exist here. There was no Auby Harris in this world, and therefore no dreamz101. I didn't even bother searching, I just created a new FFN account. Supernatural- verse, meet Dreamz.

Since there was no Microsoft Office stuff and I didn't want to save a document here anyway, I went straight to and was soon typing directly into the document manager. This way was actually easier, with page breaks and whatnot.

Though by all rights I should have been cranking out buckets of Supernatural fan fiction, I found myself writing about Glee. Maybe I didn't need Supernatural both in my real life and private life all at once. Glee was funny, sometimes cute or sad, and it was easy. You could write anything about Glee. There were thousands of fics in every genre, for every character. Glee fan fiction had always been a rare vice for me, one I readily succumbed to now as I lost myself in the world of typing Finn/Kurt friendship.

It was about one when I finished the thousand word fic, and I only read it through once before posting it. I had always taken pride in my work being typo and grammar error free, even though I was young among the fan fiction community. The new Dreamz of this world was going to be the same way.

I typed up a quick hundred- word bio, really just saying my name, age, and what fandoms I liked (excluding Supernatural from the last list) and then I posted the fic, cleared FFN from the Internet history before I even remembered where I was (force of habit; I had always cleared such things to keep my parents away from my life as a fan fiction writer), smiled at the creepy looking clerk dude again, and made my way back to our room.

I could check for reviews on Sam's laptop sometime in the next few days in the middle of doing research or whatever when nobody else was looking. That paranoia, that secrecy was, admittedly, one of my favorite parts of my old life. Being different was normal behavior for me.

Thankfully, Drew was still asleep when I got back to the room. I closed the door quietly, took my shoes off, and climbed back into bed, humming the lyrics I had used in the songfic I had just written in my mind.

I haven't seen the sun in seven days  
>I can't remember when I saw your face<br>But I still believe  
>That you led me through the wilderness<br>And you have not  
>Forgotten me through all of this<br>A thousand miles have led me to this place  
>Where all I've ever loved has been erased<br>Changing my song  
>To a disenchanted lullaby<br>With a name  
>I never really felt was mine<p>

_Change my name. _Really, I had just changed my name back. On the old universe, I was both Auby and Dreamz, at different times, with different people, and they were different people. On that awful first new universe, I could only be Auby, even though the person who showed her face there had to be more like Dreamz. Here, I could again be both of us. I could be me.

It didn't take me long to fall into dreamzland.

I didn't recall setting the alarm, so it must have been Auby or God or something. Probably Auby. Needless to say, it came on blaring at promptly 7:30 AM.

_Good morning folks, it is going to be cloudy in Illinois today with highs of 68 for our region on this wonderful June day- _I shut the annoying, nasaly, staticy radio announcer off with my fist.

"Is it weird that I half expected him to say Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?" Auby asked, sitting up and swinging her legs out from under the covers.

"Uh, yeah," I said as sarcastically as I could manage. Auby smirked and speed walked over to the bathroom like there was any chance that I would be getting out of bed in the next five minutes.

After about thirty seconds, I turned the crappy radio back on and switched it to the closest music station I could find. Country. Ew. I hated country. Next station was some politician arguing with himself. Next- ah. Jazz. Perfect. I settled back against the pillow and let the radio take over my mind.

I'm not sure if I was asleep or not when Auby opened the bathroom door. Either way, the creak that resounded as though we were living in some horror movie was enough to wake me up. She was dressed simply in sweatpants and a t-shirt and had a towel wrapped around her head like a mom. "Your turn," she said, unwrapping her wet hair and patting it with the towel.

"Fine," I said, finally moving my lazy ass out of bed. Were carpets supposed to be this cold? I immediately took that back once I reached the bathroom five steps away. The thin, stained carpet was a freaking furnace compared to the bathroom floor.

When I walked out five minutes later, Auby's hair was brushed and mostly dried and she had on an uncharacteristically somber expression that pretty much in itself negated all the singing of last night and the random jokes she's been prone to this morning. "Why the long face?" I asked casually, shaking my hair out and then reaching for her hairbrush without permission. Not that brushing my hair would do much.

"It's nothing," Auby said, regaining a clearly false smile. "Come on, I think we're supposed to meet Dean and Sam downstairs."

"Okay," I said hesitantly, making an mental note to get whatever was wrong out of Auby later. "This place better have a continental breakfast. And it better be warmer than the hot water in their showers."

"Agreed," said Auby blithely as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder in front of me. "Remember the eggs at the last one?"

I wrinkled my nose. "Ew. Those were seriously gross. They had some rubber mixed in, I swear."

Auby laughed and I smiled at having elicited a genuine positive response from her. "The sausage there was okay, though. The sausage at that place in Kentucky I didn't even eat for fear of Mad Cow Disease."

"Is there really such a thing as Mad Cow Disease?" I asked, truly confused.

Auby shrugged. "On this world, you never know."

Sam and Dean had just arrived in the lobby that had been converted into a breakfast café by the time we arrived and Sam went to get coffee for all of us. In the year I had been traveling like this, I had grown from a reluctant but placid coffee drinker to a fully fledged caffeine addict. I muttered a thank you to Sam and started blowing on it right away, knowing before I even took the first sip that this was some kind of shit instant coffee (just as they had turned my into a caffeine addict, Torchwood had also made me a serious coffee snob).

"So what are we doing today?" I asked, after a surprisingly good tasting breakfast of eggs and a blueberry muffin. Auby was still picking at the waffle squares she'd made on the little waffle iron thingy that they seemed to have at every hotel. Maybe those would put her in a better mood.

"Today, kids, we're going to visit the science center and take touristy photos of the boulevard. Doesn't that sound just wonderful?" Dean said in a falsetto, causing me to suppress a laugh and Sam to simply roll his eyes.

"We'll probably have to split up to cover more ground, we really have nowhere to start with this thing except for the basics," Sam said more seriously. "So maybe Dean and Drew could go visit the for sure victim's families while Auby and I stay back and do a little research on possible victims in years past and look into what this could be more closely?" he suggested.

"FBI Explorers, yeah!" I pumped my fist in the air, not actually excited that I got to wear one of the two fake IDs, including a driver's license, which I now possessed.

"Sounds like fun," Dean said in a normal voice, draining the rest of a cup of cranberry juice. "Let's meet back down here in ten."

"I'll get my badge," I said, standing up to go back to the room. Auby followed me- I assumed that she and Sam would be working from the Impala or an Internet café or somewhere a little nicer than this joint.

"Have fun being an FBI agent in training, again," Auby said humorlessly as she made a last sweep of the room, grabbed the little shampoo and conditioner- she was acquiring quite a collection of those things- and locked the door behind us.

While Drew was off being an FBI agent, I got the short stick with the rewarding temporary career of researcher. Hanging out with Sam was fun- he was easygoing and really funny in a less abrasive way than Dean, but the butting my head against a brick wall would have yielded results faster than most of the research we had to do.

I wanted my own FBI explorers patch. Then maybe we could switch off. I could flirt with some police officer who looked like a pedophile to get information…

Yes, these were the types of thoughts that filled my researching hours as I spent the morning avoiding looking at the date on the corner of the screen.

Have I mentioned that I freaking love my fake FBI Explorers patch? Well, it's great. Police officers actually tell me things that they think will intrigue me that they wouldn't even tell Dean otherwise. That was why we had worked out this system.

Lunch was a quick affair at a diner, and then Auby and I were deposited at a strip mall to hang out while Dean and Sam hunted for the werewolf's lair. We went into a couple shops, but the Auby's mood was pretty low. I was a little worried about Dean and Sam, but that was normal and they'd always come back okay so far.

Finally, as we were aimlessly wandering around looking for something shiny or interesting, I had to bring it up. "You've been sad all day. What's up?"

"I have not. Nothing's up," she said, looking me directly in the eye and keeping her voice perfectly steady.

"Come on, Auby. I know something's up. I used to be totally obsessed with Lie to Me and I know your tell." I grinned at her. I hadn't had a chance to play the Lie to Me card in awhile.

"I do not have a tell," she said, facing forward and keeping her voice just as steady. I smirked. She really didn't. It was kind of cool.

"You didn't do it that time. But it's totally there."

"I watch Lie to Me too, and I know I have no tell." Damn. She was right, of course. But I pushed on, because she was still having this conversation. "Also, I wasn't lying."

"Ah, and there it is again," I teased somewhat cruelly, and she shot me an almost condescending glare.

"Stop it," she said briskly, but her voice didn't even sound irritated.

Wow. Maybe she did have a tell. I had just found it. "Come on, seriously. What's with you today?"

"What's with the incessant questioning?" she deadpanned.

"Seriously. Your tell is so freaking obvious. If I tell you what it is, will you tell me what's wrong?"

"What's my tell?" she challenged, and now there was some life back in her voice. She really did want to know.

"You tell me first," I replied.

"Not happening," she said, her voice back to totally smooth again. I almost laughed. How had I never noticed this before?

"When you're lying or uncomfortable about a conversation, you overcompensate. Just a little bit. It's not twitching your fingers or moving your eyes or whatever- you do seem to have erased all signs of those. But when I ask you personal things like this, your voice gets totally smooth and emotionless, and you look at me head on, which you usually don't bother to do. You're too good of an actor, Auby," I spilled. "Now tell me."

She sighed, looking resigned. The telltale mask was off. "Today is my birthday," she stated, gazing intently into some boring electronics store.

I tried to walk away, get a bit of time and space between me and Drew and then come back and change the subject, but Drew wasn't going to let that happen. He grabbed my arm, effectively but kindly stopping me from getting away. "Want to talk about it?" he asked.

I didn't. "I don't know if the actual amount of time I've been alive adds up right, but its March fifteenth. I was born on March fifteenth. If I was at home right now, my parents would have a cake and presents ready. I might invite Rennie over the night of and have a bigger party a couple days later. But now…it's nothing like that. It's just a day."

"Homesick, yeah?" Drew said kindly in response to my rambling. We both rested our backs against a pillar that held the roof of the shopping center up. "I don't even know how old I am now. I turned fifteen on the first universe we were on, I was able to calculate what day that would be and Hazel made sure everyone knew and Ianto brought in cake. That seems like such a long time ago. I could be sixteen now and not even know it."

These heart to heart discussions were not all that uncommon between us, and usually there was nothing to do except smile sadly at each other and then look away until one of us cracks a joke and everything becomes easygoing again. But this time, Drew wouldn't let me look away. He gently touched a hand under my chin, brought my face toward his, and kissed me. Nothing dramatic. But nice. A gesture of friendship.

"Happy birthday, Aub," he said, and then gave me that sad smile again.

"You ready for this?" Drew asked, and I just nodded. I would have to be ready.

Over the last few months, I had learned how to shoot a gun. But today was the first time I knew I was going to need to. "Ready as I'll ever be," I replied a little belatedly.

Drew smiled sympathetically. "And I guess that's as good as we're going to get." I smiled back and clicked the barrel of the shotgun into place. I was ready.

The end of season two had always been a little tricky. It was the second deal with a demon the Winchester's made, and Dean having to go to hell totally set the tone for season three and that event pretty much created seasons four, four and five.

So, the way we figured it, we could stop the apocalypse by simply saving Sam's life. It wasn't quite as simple as I make it sound, but Drew and I had worked it out. Stopping Dean from going to hell would stop the apocalypse from starting, and Lilith's death or not death wouldn't make a difference. We could save this universe, minus the heartbreak.

We were en route to Wyoming already when Sam was transported. In about twelve hours, all but two of them would be dead. And it was up to us to decide who the last one was.

"So, what's your favorite song?" Drew asked. I smiled, a little sadly. If Drew was right about the habits throwing us in and out of the universes, this might be our last time playing the Game.

I considered for a moment. "Honestly, Defying Gravity," I said. "What's your favorite kind of car?"

Drew rapped his knuckles on the window of the Impala. Well, that was a pointless question. "Next time you're in a universe with a television, in 2010 or later, watch season five. The finale has this really cool overarching thing about the Impala with a bunch of flashbacks and stuff."

"You know, I'm beginning to think I'm never going to get used to your guys talking this way about my life," Dean said from the front.

"Wait for season four," Drew teased.

"You're going to have to get used to it," I said.

"Actually, Dean kind of throws a hissy fit when they find out," Drew pointed out, more than loudly enough for Dean to hear.

Dean glared again through the rearview mirror.

I think this was my favorite kind of car, too.

"Should we go over it one more time?" Auby asked. I had been surprised when she volunteered for the position that would most likely mean shooting someone, but when she had confided about how she really still thought of these universes, it had all made sense. Now it looked like it was all catching up with her.

"Dean does what he does in the show, which I don't need to explain, and you and I are on opposite sides of the road, waiting. After Dean's plan fails, you shoot into the air and I jump out and try to grab Jake's knife while he's caught off guard. If that doesn't work, then you shoot him. Maybe in the shoulder, if you can?" I smiled at her, giving the option of non- well, less violence.

"Sure," Auby agreed, her voice too neutral for my taste. I didn't like killing things, and I didn't like the idea of my friends killing things.

"So remind me again why you're not going to tell me what I'm supposed to do?" Dean asked, interrupting a staring match.

"Because you already know," I recited. "If we tell you, you might not do it right."

"It's human nature not to do what we are told," Auby quoted casually. "Even if you decide to do something different than whatever you're thinking about doing now, you're going to end up doing the right thing."

"That's not especially comforting, especially since you guys won't even tell me how all this shit is supposed to go down," Dean snapped.

"We'll tell you after we prevent it," I assured him, knowing that I probably wasn't being particularly comforting.

The rest of the drive was tense- no music, and no Game. These next few hours would change the entire universe for better or for worse, and no matter what it was all on mine and Auby's shoulders.

I felt like I had been on a constant adrenaline rush for hours when we finally reached the ghost town. It was evening by then, and Drew and I had estimated that Sam was supposed to die around ten PM, proven by the dusk that was slowly coating the horizon.

I had the gun, and I could barely make out Drew's shape in the scrubby bushes across from me. But first was Dean's part.

I think he was trying to stop himself from jumping out and yelling Sam's name, but instinct and predestination determined that he do it. I watched, trying to stay motionless and silent.

Sam was past us now, Jake on the other side. Drew had positioned us perfectly. It was almost here. I knew the drill: Drew first, then me if necessary.

I couldn't tell if I was hyperventilating or if I wasn't breathing at all. I counted the seconds until Jake walked right into the trap Drew and I had lain.

At just the right moment, Drew jumped out and tackled him, pinning his knife to the ground on the side. But Jake, being bigger and stronger, pushed Drew off, letting go of his knife, and stood up, starting towards Sam again.

"This is your last chance," Sam articulated, and I realized that Sam still felt empathy for the crazy guy. Well, maybe Sam and Dean would have one of those awesome talks of theirs later once all this shit had blown over.

Dean motioned to me, and I rose up, threateningly unclicking the safety on the rifle as Dean had shown me how to. I was the biggest threat here.

Jake walked a few steps to the side, and then I saw him reaching for his back pocket. I saw a glint of silver in the moonlight. Another knife!

I was aiming for his shoulder. I swear I was aiming for his shoulder. I hit his neck.

Sickly, at first I was almost fascinated with the blood that literally spurted out the other side of Jake's neck after the bullet hit him. It was after a moment of appreciating the aesthetic beauty of it that I realized what had just happened. Now, I was horrified.

Jake crumpled to the ground, not writhing or anything, and I decided to take comfort in the fact that at least he'd died quickly. None of us spoke for almost a minute, just watching the blood spill out onto the dirt path.

Surprisingly, it was Auby whose soft voice broke the tension. "Oops."

The car ride that followed was short and awkward. We ended up at a Days Inn in a nearby town, and as usual, Dean handed me the room key. When we were inside the room (this one had surprisingly nice sheets but smelled kind of funny) Auby went into the bathroom to take a shower without saying a word to me. I sat down on the bed and turned on the television to help me think. Glee was on.

I have never killed anyone. I've done things I'm not proud of, sure, but I myself have never killed a person. It saddened me that Auby couldn't console herself with that like I could.

She came out then, just as Glee went from a dramatic musical scene to commercial. Her hair was wet but braided tightly and she was wearing a simple red t-shirt and blue sweatpants. At that one moment, more than ever, she sharply reminded me of Hazel. A red t-shirt had become Hazel's traveling uniform almost when we'd been switching voluntarily. Now, it just kind of happened.

"How are you?" I asked, trying to use a casual tone so as not to freak her out while still expressing genuine concern.

"Okay," she responded, not even bothering with a faux cheerful voice like I would have if I was totally and completely not okay. But she looked right at me and said it steadily, which, tell or no tell, made me think that she was telling the truth.

The next logical thing to do would be to plan for season three, but oddly enough, neither Drew nor I even mentioned that. Life that night was about the here and now.

We watched Glee until it ended, and I forced a confession out of Drew that yes, he legitimately liked that show. After Glee, I changed the channel to Lie to Me. We knew each other too well and didn't have to ask which show the other would prefer.

I fell asleep in the middle of Lie to Me. At least, I don't remember how he caught the killer. When I woke up, it was still dark out and Drew was gone.

A few seconds later, so was I.

End Part 2

Hazel's filler:  
>Avatar: The Last Airbender<p>

I poofed onto the universe at the end of season one, thrust right onto the middle of the epic battle. I got a little fighting in, but moving air the way I usually did was very difficult on this universe. Instead of snapping my fingers, moving my arms and controlling it by thought, it required precise physical positions which I simply didn't know.

I ended up hanging out with the Gaang, obviously, and managed not to let slip that they were a cartoon to me for, well, like a week. But they reacted pretty well to it. Sokka even made me draw the cartoon version of him, which was bad enough to be faintly hilarious. Aang taught me proper airbending techniques for his universe, and I think it was good for him to have someone who could really understand what it was like to fly. And it was certainly good for me to have my flying powers back- I no longer needed to be wary of the rocks.

Probably the most life-changing thing that happened on this universe was that I cut my hair. It was a weird decision. We were just hanging out in Ba Sing Se, and I saw a poster of a really gorgeous girl with short, black streaked brown hair. I thought, I want that hair. So I went home and chopped the last several inches off, and then stared at myself in surprise. Tara had cut her hair equally dramatically and spontaneously in True Blood. Sakura from Naruto had done the same thing, even though it was even more dramatic and in a life or death situation.

True Blood. Naruto. Both universes I could potentially go to, even though I'd probably be killed early on in the former. Maybe I would have to wait until I was eighteen and legally old enough to be watching the show. I'd started watching Torchwood when I was twelve even though it was TV-14, but I'd been transferred there when I was fourteen. Was that the catalyst, then?

All these pointless musings aside, I cut my hair, added a side bang, got Katara to fix it because it honestly looked like crap after I'd cut it with scissors, and added black streaks using some kind of hair dye I found at an apothecary. I was a new, cooler me. I hoped Drew would like it.

In Ba Sing Se, I took up another hobby (other than self mutilation that is). That hobby was Zuko stalking.

Zuko has always been and always will be my favorite Avatar character. I loved the Gaang and all, but Zuko was the best. And since I would be more of a hindrance than a help season three, I had to get my Zuko fix by stalking.

Airbending at night was especially fun, even though Aang and I both found that the early morning was the best time for our powers. It had been the same for me on the Teen Titans universe, where I'd first acquired the ability, and on Yeiverica. But night was when it was easiest to stalk Zuko, so sometimes I had to.

I also spied on Jet spying on Zuko, which is ironic in itself. I talked to Zuko sometimes, showing up around a corner when he was alone and I think kind of being his guardian angel. I would ask him the same type of questions Iroh always did, and really listen to his response from the perspective of someone who knows him well enough to write fanfiction about him.

One time, I kissed him. I was lonely and he was lonely and annoyed and had had his lover (not really. That's just the slash fandom's opinion) Jet dragged away the night before, and I went to talk to him and it just sort of happened. I swore I would never tell Drew.

Zuko sided with Aang at the end of season two. I knew that I was entirely responsible. I wished them well, and hoped that they would save the universe just as spectacularly this time around.

The Beauty and the Tragedy  
>(aka, we hang out and have fun and then it all goes to shit)<p>

Legacy

There's really only one thing I've ever wanted out of this world, and that's to leave something behind. The word legacy has always held a lot intrigue for me, and the fantasy of someone, anyone carrying on my beliefs, carrying out my legacy has always been a silly, romantic, distant wish of mine. I suppose it's ironic that I shied away from making a real impression those few chances I got. My childhood and adolescent dreams that I probably would have carried into adulthood could have been fulfilled if I'd been strong enough. But I wasn't. I was scared. For all I am now, I don't want anyone carrying on my legacy. It's pathetic, and weak, and not at all who I wish to be remembered as.

This is the story of how I met the people who I trusted enough to carry on my legacy for me. The ones who helped form my legacy. My saviors, my teammates, and the best friends I ever had.

Our time together lasted just long enough for my legacy to form. I never got a chance to wonder if it was worth it- all the pain, all the uncertainty, all the soul searching and sleepless nights and fear and what happened in the end. Was all that what I had to give in order for my legacy to live on?

Truth

I'm a natural liar. I know it, I always have been, and I always will be. It's a skill I'm proud of. I can lie my way out of any situation, I don't have any moral qualms about lying when I don't even really need to, and I know how to make people believe something I don't even believe myself. It comes in handy.

I can't imagine a life without lying. Even with "distorting the truth" or whatever you want to call it. I can build a wall of lies outside myself and hide within, fooling everyone. To tear that down and put an unstable barrier of silence and humor and occasional distortion of the truth in it's place would tear me apart. I always thought lying and my flawless ability to do so made me strong. But the way he lives, without ever truly lying, makes him stronger.

I've spent my whole life lying about my very name, in one way or another. I've lied to the people I care most about about everything under the sun. It's the way I live. Why does it feel dirty now, for the first time?

Trust

I'm a trusting person. I trust easily, and I trust fully. Why shouldn't I? If I trust people, they won't want to violate that. I don't believe that everyone and everything I trust is perfect, but there's a certain goodness to every human I've ever met that makes them trustworthy enough for me. Ulterior motives, amoral missions- I don't care about that stuff. I can still trust them. I can still get to know them. In general, I trust with everything but my life.

Trust is a given from me, but I've always, always trusted Hazel more than anyone. She's always been my rock, and my lifeline, and my best friend. She was there through all of it like no one else has ever been. She's what I hold on to. Her, I have always trusted with my life and everything I have.

So why can't I trust what she tells me now? I should trust it even more than she does, lead her in that way. That's how it always works, how it's always been. I have always been the more trusting one. But now, Hazel is looking to the sky, trusting and loving and being faithful toward her Universe.

Why, for once, was I more suspicious? Why was I alone in this?

You're Kidding Me, Right?  
>(Naruto-verse. Me. Drew. Daniel. Need I even say more?)<p>

The sun was shining. This much I knew before I so much as opened my eyes.

The other thing I knew before I opened my eyes was that I was standing on a rooftop. But that's only because waking up on rooftops is totally commonplace for me. I think it's supposed to be the universe's idea of a joke.

The roof was red. Well, reddish orange. It was the very instant I opened my eyes and noticed that that I knew I was in a cartoon. Because in real life, roofs weren't reddish orange.

The second I looked up from asserting that I was in a universe that displayed itself as a cartoon, I knew exactly which one it was. And grinned.

Konoha is beautiful. It really is. The village is kind of quaint, but vast and decorated. It's kind of cute, really. If you can really call a rather large village cute. But the backdrop to the west, the mount Rushmore style faces of the three Hokages was magnificent. It looked even better in real life than the cartoon could ever show.

It took me a few minutes for me to tear my eyes away and look down. No one familiar was on the street directly below, but I knew that I was in some strategic position. Something was about to happen. The Universe was crafty like that.

The roof I was on was only one story, certainly less of a challenge than previous universes. I had jumped this distance countless times even on my old world, the crappy one I lived in for so many years.

But of course, this was all a lesson the Universe was trying to teach me. As I slid down from the roof in the safe- ish way I had fully developed by the age of eleven, I felt that something was different.

I landed on the ground and didn't even have to bend my knees. The fall had felt the same as usual initially, but I realized over the next few seconds that the ground was coming back to me slowly. I wasn't in any danger from falling.

I smiled (like, actually smiled. With my face) in relief. I wasn't going to die of a fall, no matter what. That was the greatest gift the universe could have given me here.

I took that thought back as soon as I thought it. Because the greatest gift the Universe could ever possibly grant me walked around the corner just then.

Konoha. It was actually a great universe, thinking about it. There was so much going on, so much drama and action and hilarity and fun. I knew it was going to be a good run even before I saw her.

I was walking aimlessly around hoping to end up somewhere familiar when I turned a corner and saw her.

Hazel. He hair was shorter and had kind of dangerous looking black streaks in it. I liked it. It matched her personality more than the simple styles she'd worn it in the last times I'd seen her. My former best friend hadn't been a hugger at all, ever, no matter what. This Hazel threw herself at me. I readily accepted her into my arms.

"Hey," I said into her now above shoulder length hair. "Where have you been?"

"Right after Yeiverica was Lost," she said. "Which I always, always, told you you should ave watched with me. You would have enjoyed the show."

"How was that?" I asked, not missing the emphasis on the show. I had only been able to learn what had happened to her on the Teen Titans universe late at night, after a few months of living in Yeiverica. And I knew that was bad. Hazel didn't need any more shattered universes under her belt.

"Weird. I don't even know how it ended, I was there for the beginning of season one," she replied, and I frowned at the ambiguity, making a mental note to ask her about it later. "After that was Avatar: The Last Airbender, and now here."

"You're kidding. You did Avatar without me?" I was genuinely appalled. We'd watched that show together for years.

Hazel smirked, and I couldn't help but admire the way her new side bangs hung over her right eye. "It's probably got something to do with the fact that I watched the entire series all over again the summer before ninth grade," she said laughingly.

"Right. Damn, though, that universe must have been kickass."

"It was," Hazel assured. "So what's happened to you?"

"We should never, ever watch different TV shows again," I began. "Remember how I was always nagging you about Supernatural?"

"The fan fiction was creepy," Hazel asserted, using her old argument. "But you went there? How was it?"

"Good. Pretty darn good," I said, smiling. "It was Supernatural for me, and then here. The freaking Naruto universe." I didn't even have to elaborate. Hazel understood perfectly.

"This is going to be epic," she summed up. It most certainly was.

The first thing I know about myself is that I am not a liar. I may not be an honest person, but I do not lie. I don't lie, but I can still keep a secret.

Another day, another world another test.

It wasn't so much waking up as waking _down _perhaps falling from flight. The light faded and I gradually became aware of my surroundings. I recognized it right away- they showed panoramas of the village in the manga all the time. Konoha, Naruto world. One of my favorites.

I stood against a doorway, contemplating what to do and idly wondering if I would simply be sucked off this universe like the last one if I simply stayed here when they passed.

The boy and girl didn't quite pass me, but they turned from the other side of the building I was leaning against onto the street on the right. I was only in close proximity to them for a few seconds, but in those few seconds, the boy happened to say the words Naruto universe.

I've made some really, really bad decisions in my life. One of the worst was my decision to follow them across Konoha.

Drew, this awesome universe, _Drew- _this day just couldn't get any better.

It did.

Turns out, Ichira Ramen is actually really, really delicious.

By some stroke of devious luck, Drew found a free bowl of ramen slip on the ground. So we went straight to downtown to split a bowl. You couldn't be in the Naruto universe without trying a bowl of Ichira Ramen. It's like the number one tourist attractions.

"Okay, now what?" I asked when we were done sightseeing and being tourists. "I haven't even seen any of the canon characters yet. We should at least try to figure out what time period we're in."

"Well, it's definitely pre-Shippuden," Drew replied, pointing at the mountain with the faces of the village's Hokages carved on it. "No Tsunade. We could be in the middle of the time split, though."

"She wouldn't do that to us," I said.

Drew raised his eyebrows. "Who?"

Oops. "Never mind. But I don't think we're in the time jump. That just seems a little pointless, don't you think?"

"Whenever we are is pretty pointless," Drew replied. "There's so much going on in this universe. Whatever we do has to be carefully thought through, because saving one might mean dooming everyone else. There's too many subplots and they're all connected."

"I really, really hope neither of us ever has to work with the Yu Gi Oh universe," I muttered. I hadn't seen the whole series, so I was probably safe, but that was just famous for subplots. I grabbed a napkin from the bar and a pen from the outside pocket of my bag. "Where should we even start?" I asked, holding the pen a little above the far too small paper. It had taken a hundred and forty chapters of the manga so far so even begin the enormity of this universe.

"Maybe with stuff that happened before the series even began?" Drew suggested. We both considered that for a second, and I shook my head. "No way. That's still too much."

"We need to find out when we are," Drew emphasized again. "Let's just walk around aimlessly until we see someone from the canon. Then we can follow them around and figure out what's going on."

"Can we even name all the arcs of part one?" I asked, somewhat rhetorically. Drew opened his mouth to begin, but another voice interrupted.

"Introduction arc, Land of the Waves, Chuunin Exams, Invasion of Konoha or Return of Itachi, Search for Tsunade, Land of Tea, Naruto versus Sasuke, Sasuke Retrieval, and after that is mostly a bunch of crappy filler in the anime."

By the second arc in the recitation, Drew and I were both staring at the smallish dark haired boy that had probably been stalking us for awhile now. "Who are you?" I asked bluntly, ready to pretend that I knew the order of the part one arcs just as well as he did.

"I'm Daniel. I know this universe as an anime and manga series. And I'm going to venture a guess that so do you." Daniel's expression remained calm, while I was still freaked out by how he had introduced himself to us. What kind of otaku memorized all of the arc names?

"You're right," Drew said politely. "I'm Drew and this is Hazel. We just got here."

"I know. So did I," Daniel said. "I followed you from most of the way across the city. I wanted to make sure you were talking about what I thought you were talking about."

Well, at least he was up front about it. "Have you seen any clues about where we might be, besides narrowing it down to part one?" Drew asked. Drew made a motion and we all started walking up the street so the people in the ramen shop wouldn't form true suspicions about us.

"No, sorry. It might not even be part one, though, it could be before the start of the series," Daniel pointed out.

"True. I haven't seen any of the characters around," I admitted, surprised that I hadn't yet thought of that option. "But we're before Shippuden, probably before the time jump."

"That's not narrowing it down much," Drew pointed out unhelpfully.

"At least we know we don't have to deal with Shippuden," I countered. "Part one is easier. It makes more sense, and it's not as interconnected." I personally preferred Shippuden by a lot, but I also understood the niceness of an easy universe to work with. The Whoniverse had been easy- keep a few people from dying, help save a world that never ended. From there, it had only gotten more complicated. This, plus being able to do it with Drew and the new kid I still wasn't sure if I liked or not, was going to be a breeze.

We spent about half an hour wandering the city in a bit of an awkward silence. Hazel and I were reluctant to start a conversation, barely knowing the other kid, and he wasn't a hell of a talker, it seemed. All of us occasionally pointed out places or things we'd seen in Naruto, but that was about it for conversation.

Finally, finally, we figured it out. "We're somewhere between the start of the series and the Chunin Exams," Daniel said, not explaining until I asked specifically.

"How do you know?" I asked, looking around. Daniel pointed off to the left.

"I'm guessing right after the land of the Waves arc," he elaborated. Hazel and I both looked where he was pointing.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura with the longer hair she'd abandoned fairly early in part one (I guess this detail was what made Daniel specify the time) were walking into the village with Kakashi, all carrying backpacks. So we were right, directly after the land of the Waves arc. They hadn't had any real long-term missions before or since, at least before the Chunin Exams. We all stopped thinking for a moment, just to look at them. Team 7. We knew about all they had been through, all they would go through. Seeing them in person was somewhere between a dream come true and a horror story come to life.

"Definitely pre- Chunin Exams, because of Sakura's hair," Hazel said. So we'd all noticed the same thing. "So, now what?"

"The Chunin Exams aren't until about a month after the Land of the Waves, I think," Daniel said. "And we're only assuming that this is after that mission. We don't really know at all what goes on during that time."

"Why would she send us here at such a pointless time?" Hazel asked rhetorically. I didn't answer, still a little uncomfortable with her calling the enigma that threw us around the galaxy "she."

Unsurprisingly, we all stuck around for a little while and kind of stalked team seven. Naruto was talking his head off, as was the norm at this point of the series, and Kakashi looked mildly amused behind the badass mask that I had always loved.

Sasuke left first before officially being dismissed, I think, and Sakura's parents both came up and she hugged them both and left with them. I saw the expression on Naruto-s face. The closest to truly "sad" we ever saw of him in part one. I'm sure it mirrored the expression I used to hide before I'd stopped caring about parental compassion.

Once Sakura left with her mother's arm around her and her father carrying her pack, Kakashi also departed and Naruto half-skipped off in the other direction, toward where we had been wandering from.

"Should we continue stalking?" the girl, Hazel, asked humorously. I didn't respond, waiting for her boyfriend to answer. I didn't like either of them very much so far, but we'd have to work together some for damage control.

"We'll have time to stalk whoever we want. I'm not worried about that," Drew replied. "Right now, we need to sit down and figure out where we're going. "

"You know, if we get to stay here long enough, there were a lot of redshirts in the Chunin Exams," Hazel mentioned casually. Now _that _was a joke. How could we possibly participate in the Chunin Exams without screwing something up for the canon characters?

"There certainly are," Drew responded, and I saw them grin at each other. Wait- were they serious?

I was hanging out with a couple of crazies who were probably going to get everyone killed.

And so it was decided. In one month, we were going to become ninjas and participate in the Chunin Exams. Already, I freaking loved this universe.

The new kid, Daniel, had seemed a little weirded out by Drew and I and our antics, but he would have to get used to it. Because we needed a team of three. And the universe had given us that.

We found an apartment. This place had a really weird policy about living space that would never actually work in the real world. Komoha didn't have any homeless because if you came up to a building and asked if there was a place free for you, and there was, you got it.

We acquired headbands. It actually wasn't that hard. We just had to get into some building and steal them. It was actually kind of fun. Picking locks had been a pastime of mine since about second grade. It was an amazing feeling to know that barriers that kept out normal people who hadn't spent years training for this had nothing on me.

"I love this ninja stuff," I commented one day, in our second week there. Daniel had gotten a book of hand signs, apparently one of the several that the kid ninjas at the academy studied, and we were slowly working our way through it, memorizing basic stuff. Daniel was surprisingly good at it, I was okay at the hand signs but excelled at what I guess would be considered taijutsu. So my weird superpower on this world wasn't totally random.

Drew struggled a little bit with the stuff, but managed to acquire a decent repertoire. Daniel, on the other hand, was fantastic. He learned the signs quickly and could actually do them at a speed that wouldn't get him killed in a battle. He managed to fool both me and Drew with shadow clones. I didn't like him much, but I could respect talent.

"The ninja stuff can be pretty fun," Daniel said, then put his hands together in an all too familiar sign and said "Bunshin no jutsu!" A makeshift Daniel appeared next to him. Drew casually threw a knife at it and the clone disappeared.

I laughed with Hazel and Drew, trying desperately to think of a good excuse to leave this room right now and get away from people who threw knives around as a joke. If that thing had hit me and I hadn't leapt away or countered it in time, I could be dead.

But I could comfort myself with the fact that I knew I could counter it in time. On this universe, the skills I had wasted so much time acquiring would actually be helpful. But that didn't help the panic attack state I was practically going into from seeing my clone killed by a knife.

"I'm bored," Drew said as he sat on a chair with a book in front of him, trying to get the fifth of a complex series of hand signs right for an earth fissure jutsu. I personally preferred fire- style and Hazel preferred wind- style, but Drew hadn't quite found his affinity of sorts yet. He was resilient, though.

"Let's stop for now," Hazel said, closing her own book. I followed suit and turned to face them. The effects of the knife effect on my clone had pretty much faded, but I was still a little more wary than usual.

"We've only got a week left until Chunin Exams," Drew said, grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil from the desk area behind him. "So we need to figure out what to do."

"I have to know; are you guys serious about participating in the Chunin Exams?" I asked.

"Why else would we have been learning all this all this time?" Hazel asked. "Of course we're serious. And you had _better _be with us."

"If you guys are doing it, I'll do it. I just think we're taking an unnecessary risk," I stated.

"It's not really unnecessary," Drew corrected, looking like he wasn't really concentrating on this conversation. "But let's get back to the topic. What do we need to change?"

"It's Naruto. We are in a freaking epic. It's not going to be some simple, small thing," Hazel said unhelpfully.

"Think Whoniverse," I said. "That was pretty gigantic, but we managed to change enough little things without everything else getting fucked over. We can do the same thing here. Heck, there's not even any time travel to contend with."

"Let's start with everyone we care about that died," Hazel said.

"Itachi. Jiraiya," I began immediately, writing those names down. "But that's not until late part two, so we'd have to do something really crafty to prevent that."

"I don't get it," Daniel finally said. "What are you talking about? Why do you think we need to change things? Why do you even want to?"

"Because this is a universe full of people who maybe don't want to go through all they originally have to," Hazel quickly summed up before I even had a chance to think of a response to that.

"But how do you know you won't just mess everything up?" Daniel asked, talking fast. I could tell that he'd been wanting to have this conversation for some time and had finally found his opportunity.

"We don't. Heck, we have. Well, I have," Hazel said. "I destroyed an entire world, and entire human race. But that's a mistake from the past. We do all we can so there are as few mistakes as possible."

"So you're trying to create a perfect world?" Daniel asked slightly obnoxiously.

"Not perfect. Just better for the people in it," I argued. "If you lived here and you were slated to die, would you rather be saved or die because that's what supposed to happen?"

Daniel seemed to have no response to this. "We're changing their destinies for them," I continued. "Making their lives easier, however we can. We're helping the universe."

"How do you know it's helping?" Daniel persisted. "How do you know it's not already the way it's supposed to be?"

"Because in episode one thirty eight of Shippuden, a good person dies for no reason at all. And that doesn't have to be," Hazel said, sounding furious that someone dare reject her ideals.

"The Uchiha clan might be a little too fucked us for us to fix," I mediated. "But knowing where Sasuke's story goes, we can do something to stop it. Or help it, a little. We're better than psychics, here."

"I just don't think it's right," I continued. It felt so, so good to finally be able to say this, to tell them what they were doing wrong. To prove that I was strong enough to uphold my own opinions.

"That's ridiculous," Hazel said bluntly, and I could tell that she was done putting up with me. "What do you think we're here for, our own enjoyment?"

"Well, you think we're here to set the universe to what we want. Everything that happens here, everyone that dies, is good for someone. I mean, if you're a die-hard Orochimaru fan, stuff that happens in the series that a Sasuke fan might consider good would be devastating. You're trying to set everything to your own ideals. You can't be the moral compass of this entire world."

"Actually, I can. If I wanted to, I could kill everyone here," she pointed out. Well, that was true.

"Your point?"

"We're just trying to stop the bloodshed, make things as right as we can," Drew said rationally in a calming voice. Ever the peacemaker, that one. "Maybe our definitions of right aren't quite the same-"

"I don't have a definition of right. Here, we're supposed to agree with Masashi Kishimoto's definition of right," I replied.

"Then what's that?" Hazel asked.

Drew looked thoughtful. "Actually, I think I know the answer," he said, smiling slightly at whatever he was thinking. "Think about Naruto. The person, the character, whatever. His ideals, his views, his goals. That's what this whole world is about. Maybe we're here to help it conform more to those goals."

"You should be a politician," I said sourly, still unconvinced. "You're right in, a way. That's where this whole world goes already. Eventually. Right now, it's on that path. One day, Naruto's probably going to become Hokage. And anything we do, even the slightest thing, might change that ending."

Now Hazel looked like she was wavering. "We just want to save lives, make things easier," she repeated.

"Maybe it's not supposed to be easy. Maybe whatever happens to them now is really important to who they become in the future, what they do for this universe," I argued.

"Daniel, this universe is incredibly vast and complicated and I know it seems impossible, but we really can help to change it," Drew said optimistically and illogically. "Hazel and I started out on a universe that had been a TV show for _decades. _Naruto is nothing compared to that."

Though I was sure he was telling the truth, I didn't even take his words to heart. Drew knew that he and Hazel weren't gods. "Why are you even here if you consider Naruto nothing?" I asked, using a poignant but unimportant question to buy myself time.

"I don't. That's a ridiculous interpretation of what I just said," Drew countered, then I guess he realized how just how bitchy he sounded and toned his voice down a bit. "What I meant was that I know we can do this."

I think that was the moment I decided not to believe a word that Drew ever said. He had too much faith. I would not be at all surprised if he turned out to be one of the idiots who went around complaining that people were really good at heart.

We all kind of went our separate ways after our little argument, but we were all back at the apartment we were sharing by around six. Personally, I used the few hours we all clearly needed away from each other to do a little more stalking. Because that was just our favorite pastime on this world. I'm pretty sure that anyone who isn't an avid stalker doesn't know that…actually, that's a violation of privacy. I'll leave that to your imagination.

"We should hang out tonight," Hazel suggested, none of the previous argument being mentioned. It was easier that way, not even awkward.

"We hang out every night," I pointed out. Duh. We lived together.

"Yeah, but I mean, do something fun," Hazel said. "Team bonding experience?"

"Team bonding?" Daniel sounded incredulous, and I could imagine him picturing trust exercises and name games. He cast an inquisitive glance my way to see my reaction, of which there was none. We were already a team.

"Sure. Oh, I have an idea!" The exaggerated animation that lit up Hazel's face pushed me to think that she had had this particular idea all along.

"What?" Daniel and I asked in the same tone at the same time. Neither of us sounded too excited about it.

"We could just hang out in the forest, make a fire or something," Hazel said, and I was surprised that her epic idea wasn't more…epic. I'd done more interesting things with boy scouts in third grade, which I had quit after one year because I hated it so much.

Daniel, however, appeared to perk up at the word fire. "Sure," he said with a surprising level of almost enthusiasm. And if Daniel wasn't being conservative or argumentative, there was no excuse for me to be.

"Let's do it."

I had been a little nervous about my campfire idea when the boys had acted skeptical about it, but now, with the fire crackling merrily and warming all of our faces, I knew I had been right. This might be the last fun and work-free night we would have for awhile.

Drew had had the presence of mind to bring marshmallows, a technicality I had totally forgotten about. We had toasted a couple on sticks and thrown some more into the fire just to watch them explode, because we all have a sadistic little pyromaniac somewhere deep within us.

Daniel's seemed to be less deep than the rest of ours, though. I don't think his eyes had left the fire all night. For a moment, I wondered if he had some kind of special affinity for fire control, as I had for wind and air. But I dismissed the notion, as I hadn't seen him use any elemental jutsu yet.

"Should we sing campfire songs?" Drew asked, hopefully because he wanted to get a conversation flowing and not because he actually wanted to sing campfire songs.

"Yeah, kum bai yah is a personal favorite," Daniel responded sarcastically, his dark eyes not leaving the flame.

"Let's just talk," I said. "Team bonding, remember?"

Drew gave an audible eye roll, and began reciting "Buttercup was born on a small farm in the country of Florrin-"

"Shut up," I said, annoyed. "We could play one of those stupid character games."

"Hazel secretly loves those," Drew said, too loudly to be intended only for Daniel's ears. I blushed, knowing it was true and hoping the redness of my face wouldn't be noticeable over the flickering orange shadows caused by the flame.

"The first test," Daniel said. "We can look around, sightsee if you will, but just don't get caught for cheating."

"Duh," Drew said obnoxiously. "It would be almost funny if we got kicked out of the first test."

"But we should put something on the papers, even if it's not right," Daniel continued. "It was significant to the proctor- forgot the guy's name- that Naruto was the only student who passed with a blank test."

How did he remember these things? "Right. We don't want to stand out," I affirmed. "So, headbands, ninja-ish clothes, and try to stay out of everybody's way."

"Like hell I'm staying out of everybody's way," Drew argued. "We can say hi, meet people officially, as long as we don't interrupt Kabuto showing the cards to Sasuke."

"Fine," I agreed, pleased with his solution. Meeting the characters would probably be the best thing about tomorrow. "We're probably about the same age as most of the examinees, so at least we won't stand out there." All of us had had issues on that particular subject in the past.

"We shouldn't be planning now. We've got everything sorted out." Drew moved so he was lying down looking at the fire. "This is team bonding, right?"

"Right. Should we be doing trust falls or something?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"Actually, that is an excellent idea," Drew said.

I knew he was just teasing, but it didn't stop Daniel and I from forcibly saying "No way," in the exact same instant.

We all smiled at that at the same time. That moment, more than anything, was what team bonding was all about.

I know I think a lot of things are amusing, but the first part of the test was really, _really _amusing. Hazel, Daniel, and I were pretty spread out, and I was only a few rows ahead of Naruto and Hinata, and I easily overheard the really obnoxious conversation they had in the middle of the exam. The guy on my right got kicked out for cheating and the girl on my left had to leave because her teammate chickened out at the last question.

There were only about two hours between the written test and the forest of death, and Hazel, Daniel, and I huddled in a corner of the room ironing over all the details of our plan, making sure that we had every option covered. I think it helped Daniel some.

The first day was actually only an afternoon, which was unexpected. We got the scrolls and shit (our team was Heaven) and signed the wavers that said not to sue them if we got ourselves killed, and were directed to gate eleven.

Tension was high as we waited for it to open, and I don't think any of us said a word. There was nothing important left to say, and it totally wasn't the time for small talk.

Finally, the gate creaked open. At the same moment as twenty six other teams, we stepped into the arena.

"Let's do this," Hazel said confidently.

This is the part where I admit that I wasn't completely comfortable with even my part of the plan. A few weeks ago, I had drawn up a map of the forest from memory and used a protractor to find the approximate location of important events. We were five or ten miles away from the epic battle of Orochimaru, and we had to be right in that section of forest by about nine, or whenever full dark came to the forest. I hadn't seen the Chunin Exam arc in months. My map was probably terribly imprecise, and my estimated measures could be totally wrong.

_Just roll with it. _I knew that was what Drew would say if I voiced these feelings out loud. He was like that – an optimist. I took strides to prevent myself from becoming anything like an optimist, but here was a situation where I couldn't do anything but roll with it.

But now, Drew was the insecure one. "Team seven couldn't defeat him, and they're freaking team seven," Drew burst out, interrupting my thoughts. Hazel and I nodded. We understood the implications about the utter epicness of team seven.

"We're not team seven. Sakura at this point was a spaz and not helpful at all. Well, after that weepy scene later in this arc she gets a little better. But now, she's not able to do much. Also, Naruto was inside a snake for half the battle, so we can barely count him." Hazel smiled. "We are three capable ninjas. Any three capable ninjas would be able to turn the tide of this battle."

Okay, now that was optimism I admired. Hazel could be positive but logical at the same time. Drew ignored the logic when it wasn't convenient, and I normally tried to ignore the positivity. "Also, we know what attacks Orochimaru prefers and how he's going to try to fight this battle. Never doubt the power of knowledge," I supplemented, trying my hand at this optimism thing.

"We've totally got this," Drew said. Well, that was taking logical- optimistic too far into cocky for ky liking, but it was still encouraging.

We were there. We were in the spot (we'd heard sounds of a familiar battle earlier, and the clearing we were surrounding held déjà vu for all of us) and we were ready. I was holding a kunai knife in a very ninja like way and was practically hovering with excitement for the upcoming battle.

I've never thought of myself as addicted to violence, but I cannot deny that the adrenaline and eagerness for the battle I felt were amazing. And right now, as we prepared to fight for our lives, I decided that was a good thing.

When the fight appeared in the clearing, we all jumped out at the precise moment. Orochimaru revealed himself early on with a direct hit jutsu from Daniel, and one moment found me fighting right next to Sasuke. I have to admit, battle was just fucking amazing.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love cherries?

We had him. We were about to change almost everything about the entire plot of Naruto. Because of us, nothing would ever be the same.

Daniel was on the last hand sign for the weird jutsu that finished the former leaf ninja when it happened. Orochimaru's neck shot out from his body, and he bit the back of Sasuke's neck.

Fuuuccckkk.

There went several weeks of perfect planning in one instant. A blast of light from Daniel killed Orochimaru. He was gone, but the bad part of the story had already been set in motion.

By mutual nods, Daniel, Drew and I ran into the forest. We were of no use here anymore, and Sakura needed that really annoying to watch character defining moment. We had done all we could- these characters were on their own now.

I have never been the hugest fan of sleep. Insomnia seems like it goes with the profession, though, so sometime late at night found Hazel, Drew, and I still awake and sitting silently around the fire.

"I can't believe we failed." I have never heard Drew sound that so close to broken. It was from the over optimism earlier, I was sure. He had convinced himself that everything was going to turn out perfectly, and it was just karma that dictated that something we thought we could do would go so utterly wrong. Drew believed in the best possible option until he couldn't anymore, and he was taking this much harder of the rest of us because of it.

It was kind of a sad existence, being constantly disappointed like that. So different from the one I tried to lead. For once, I saw the necessity to take the optimistic side. "Not totally. With no Orochimaru, that screws over half the plot. There's never going to be any reason for Sasuke to leave, and therefore pretty much no part two. Sasuke may be inherently bad and all, but we've already changed everything."

"Let's go over it fully," Hazel said. By fully she clearly meant optimistically, but right now I didn't mind. I was viewing this realistically, and her optimism wasn't as grating as usual. "Sasuke doesn't leave in part one without Orochimaru's influence, because he has nowhere to go."

"He'll still be frustrated that Naruto's improving faster than him, but it won't be as bad, because…oh!" Hazel exclaimed. "I wasn't even thinking about the Invasion of Konoha arc. That's never going to happen, because it was lead by Pedosnake, not Akatsuki in general."

Drew finally seemed to perk up. "So Itachi will never have a reason to revisit the leaf village at this time, so Sasuke won't be so discombobulated, and maybe he'll have a chance."

Hazel and I both stared at Drew for a few seconds. "Did you really just use the word discombobulated?" Hazel asked finally.

"I guess so," Drew looked kind of surprised.

"Do you even know what that means?" I asked, not knowing myself.

"Not a clue," Drew responded cheerfully, smiling for the first time in hours. We had done it. We had almost really done it.

The main problem with my being a bit of an insomniac is that I'm also naturally a morning person. If I go to bed at nine, I get up at seven thirty or eight, and if I go to bed at three, I still wake up around eight.

So when the sun woke us all up at about six in the morning, I was the most coherent out of everyone for the next few hours.

Luckily, we weren't attacked until noon.

It was the fucking Sound ninjas of course, not some useless bunch of redshirts. No, these guys were good. We were good too, but these guys had been a threat against all of the main characters.

One of them –I could never tell these guys apart- jumped me, and I used the air to slide myself right under his legs and kick him from the back. He went down. I saw Daniel hit one of the other guys with what I was pretty sure was called a steel fist jutsu, reminding me that I had more methods of fighting in this world than my usual ones.

I made a hand sign for a substitution jutsu and hid in a tree to assault him as soon as he figured out he wasn't fighting me anymore. Being a ninja was freaking awesome.

I saw Drew jump down from a rock with a kick aimed at another one's face and the ninja disappeared. I realized at that exact moment just how much I hated shadow clones, and turned back to my own battle.

The feeling that came first wasn't pain, it was just _wrongness. _I had only fallen a few feet (I'd jumped off higher distances all my life), but almost all my weight was taken by one wrist.

I didn't have time to stop and look at it. The fight was still going on. My friends were in danger. I could worry about damage control later.

Pulling myself to my feet as quickly as possible, I looked around and spotted Daniel rolling something into a scroll and wrapping it around one of his knives. The guy actually knew the symbols for those exploding things? I was coming to respect him more and more every day.

I snuck around the tree line to where he was sticking to the shadows. I made a noise to let him know I was coming and approached him when I was sure he wasn't about to use that thing on me.

"I'm pretty sure I got the symbols right, it's the scroll Tenten used in episode seventeen of Shippuden to blow up the-"

"I don't even know what arc episode seventeen of Shippuden is. But I trust you," I whispered back. "I'll get Hazel out of here, meet us about a mile that direction?" I pointed at the other side of the clearing.

I was running totally on adrenaline and I knew it. My arm had a kind of dull, throbbing pain just to let me know to pay attention to it later, and in the meantime, colors were brighter, my senses were stronger, and I was sure my reflexes were faster. If I could actually form a hand sign I would be golden.

Hazel was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with one of the sound guys, and it was only her speed and supernatural lightness in this universe that gave her the upper hand. With my good wrist, I threw a pinecone at the back of the Sound guy's head. Not all that subtle or ninja-like, but I was going for distraction, not kill. And pinecones abounded in this forest. Simplest solution.

My Great Flying Pinecone of Doom had it's intended effect, and both the sound guy and Hazel turned to me. In the few seconds I had her attention, I used my right hand to sign "D. That way. One." Which I hoped Hazel would understand to mean "Daniel's getting something ready. Get out of here and that direction ASAP."

The second sound guy that I had just bagned on the head with a rock was still unconscious, and the third now had his eyes locked on me. With one last look at Daniel, I ran for the designated meeting place, resisting the urge to hold my arm protectively.

Hazel was beside me moments later, which was great because the explosion came mere moments after that. I started counting, using the throbbing pulses radiating from my arm to keep a beat. Daniel was there after thirteen and the tangible tension disappeared.

"Nice job," Hazel congratulated supportively. I nodded at Daniel in agreement.

"Let's get out of here," he said. "People are going to have heard that, and some of them will want to see what happened."

"Good idea," Hazel said, and we started walking quickly down one of the closest things to a path this place had.

I don't know how long we walked. No one was talking, probably because I was the one normally mediating the conversation and I was _so _not in a talking mood. My arm was really beginning to hurt as the adrenaline wore off. I was constantly on the cusp of mentioning it but just couldn't bring myself to.

"I hear a stream that way. Let's get across it and then we can stop and regroup," Hazel said. She still had two knives out and was actually playing with them, twirling them around on her fingers. I nodded, deciding not to deliberately break her post-battle high.

"This is a nice place," Daniel said as we entered a clearing on the other side of the stream after crossing an all-too-convenient log. It was probably meant to sound sarcastic, but my hearing had gone a little fuzzy, as though I had stood up too quickly.

Casually, I sat down and leaned against a tree, delicately holding my arm in my lap. I could tell it was swollen without even looking, and I didn't want to have to look at it long enough to inspect the damage.

"Are you okay? You look pale." Daniel asked pointedly.

"Yeah, sure," I said casually, pretending to not even know what he was talking about. Even my own voice sounded funny, and I felt dizzy and nauseous.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked more directly. At some point, Hazel had disappeared.

"Um, I might have sprained my wrist or something when I fell out of the tree after clubbing the first guy," I replied. "It's not too bad, though."

"Can I see it?" Daniel asked, even though I could tell he was already uncomfortable.

"You're not a doctor. Actually, Hazel has a little training, so I'll show it to her when she gets back," I said, careful to remain in control even for the two people most likely to see through the façade.

"Hazel what?" Hazel asked upon reentering the clearing with two filled water bottles. She handed one to Daniel and the other two me after taking a few generous sips.

"Drew hurt his wrist," Daniel replied.

"It really isn't bad," I protested as Hazel walked over to me, wishing it were true.

"You look like you're going into shock, which means it's probably broken," she responded coolly. "Now can I see it?"

Trying to act like it was no big deal, I tried to extend my arm and couldn't resist gasping at the pain.

I stood kind of awkwardly off to the side while Hazel looked at Drew's arm. Had it really been that bad the whole time since he'd come up to me when I was making the scroll? I thought I understood adrenaline, but Drew's willpower must be supreme.

"I can go fill a couple Ziplocs with stream water," I found myself offering in the desire to be useful but distant. "It's probably the best we can do for ice."

"Ice is probably a good idea," Drew said, his voice still sounding calm and smooth on the surface.

I did as I had suggested, for once glad instead of annoyed that something like Ziploc bags existed on the Naruto universe, and got back there in a few minutes. "It won't feel like they're helping much, but if you keep pressure on it they really help to reduce the swelling," I offered before I was able to censor myself.

"Good to know," said Drew, probably too exhausted after the expected adrenaline rush to really sound sarcastic. "I thought you said you didn't know any doctor stuff."

I was more surprised at Drew's ability to be so observant even in such a bad situation than I was by his question. I know that Drew always thinks with people, but it was beginning to cross the line from interesting to annoying.

"I don't," I replied. "I took honors biology last year. It also has a bit to do with common sense." Not all a lie. We had talked briefly about blood vessels and sprains and things during bio last year.

"Whatever," Drew said as he shifted around the water bags.

"Should we put an Ace bandage on it or something?" Hazel asked, sounding worried. She had gotten really quiet when Drew had finally told us about his arm and I was pretty sure she was going through that self sacrificing angry state that people went through when their loved ones were hurt.

"We don't have any way to tell if it's broken off or just fractured," Drew said. Oh, _now _he was admitting it was broken. About damn time. He was gently holding the injured arm with the other one and trying to hold the Ziplocs on it.

"If we want to finish this challenge, we'll have to risk it," I said. "If the arm is bandaged, it'll probably have a kind of placebo effect on the injury and it won't hurt as much, plus the swelling will go down naturally. On the other hand, it'll be harder to set right if you let it heal even a little and it's really broken."

Hazel looked shocked and even angry at my analysis. Jeez, were all girls this emotional? But she was luckily able to stop herself from blowing up at me and let Drew answer.

"The temporary solution's probably best. Unless you know any medical ninjutsu?" Drew asked rhetorically.

I shook my head. Hazel should have been our kuniochi, but the closest thing she had to medical ninja training was a first aid kit.

"At least we have both scrolls now," Drew added. "So we can finish the challenge and move on saving the universe."

"And that's just damage control now," Hazel said enthusiastically. "We got through our primary goal. We killed Pedosnake. We just have to see it through."

Drew smiled at her, and I forced a smile on myself. If Drew could smile now, so could I.

Unfortunately, we had to keep moving. I took out my small, entirely inadequate medical kit and couldn't help but feel resentment toward Daniel for not knowing the stupid medical jutsus. If that sexist Kishimoto had made some male kuniochi, he probably would.

I breathed in and out a couple times and unrolled an ace bandage, holding the clips in my hand. The bags of water, which probably hadn't been very cold to begin with, were on the ground and useless. "I've barely ever done this before," I admitted casually to Drew.

"That's what you're supposed to say _after _you do it perfectly," Drew said sarcastically. I granted him a small smile and started winding the bandage around his arm as I'd learned in the babysitting course I'd taken four years ago. Drew winced and audibly hitched his breath, and I started rolling it more loosely.

"No, put it on more tightly than that," Daniel said. "Pressure will help the swelling go down, it's better in the long run."

"For someone who doesn't care much about people, you're being quite the mother hen," Drew commented.

I obeyed Daniel's suggestion and wound the bandage more tightly, but loosely enough not to cut off his circulation.

"They don't let us carry drugs around. Are you going to be okay?" I asked Drew.

He stood up and took another sip of water. "We've got two scrolls, no more specific goals, and a day and a half left. Let's get to that tower."

I smiled. We could do this. We were a team, we were strong, and we were one. "Let's do it."

It actually felt surprisingly better as I walked along. The bandage felt almost good keeping my arm steady. We were all too subdued after the attack from the Sound ninjas to really celebrate our victory over Orochimaru, but we were all grateful internally.

"We've got to be getting close," Hazel said, trying to sound encouraging but failing. "It's thirty miles into the arena. We've walked at least six in the last couple hours. And I'm pretty sure Team Kakashi was supposed to be pretty close to it, because they've stayed in the same place the last couple days."

"Okay, let's stop, take a break, and try to think like ninjas," Daniel said. I waste no time in plopping my bag down by a tree and walked over to a nearby stream to refill my water bottle. I was contemplating the dilemma of having to open it with either my teeth or my elbow when Hazel took it from my hand and filled it for me.

"We don't have any sort of map, but is there anything we can do to make one?" I asked. Daniel knew some of the jutsus they used in the series. I was still in awe over the Tenten style scroll trick he'd pulled earlier. Hazel had a little magic of her own. So far, we had figured everything out, and our efforts weren't about to be wasted by our being unable to find the stupid tower.

"I can climb a tree and see if I can see either the gate or the tower," Hazel suggested. Okay, it wasn't exactly high-tech or magical, but it was likely to prove effective.

It wasn't. "All the trees are the same height," Hazel said dejectedly as she half climbed, half floated down. "I can't see over."

"OH!" I cried, as I saw her come to a stop on the ground gently, like a bird. A bird- that was the answer.

"What?" Hazel asked. Daniel raised his eyebrows in questioning but didn't speak.

"Sai-jutsu!" I exclaimed, and Hazel's face lit up all over again. Daniel looked confused, probably because he hadn't been with us when I'd coined the term Sai-jutsu, "Sai. From Shippuden," I explained. "His hidden beasts or information carrying birds- it's all the same thing, the same one sign. And I know it!"

"Drew. Chill," Hazel said. "You're acting like you are on pain killers. Or maybe just crack."

I calmed myself down and kept talking. "Daniel, you're probably the best artist here. Could you draw a bird that could, like, work?"

"Not as quickly as Sai could," he said.

I smirked, thinking of Sai drawing several attacking beasts in a few seconds. "Not a problem."

Daniel finished within only a few minutes, and he did the hand sign himself, which was a bit of a blow to my pride. Oh well, at least I had been the one to think of it.

The animated paper and ink bird rose above the trees and Daniel closed his eyes. "This is actually really cool. I can control it with my thoughts, and I can see through its eyes." After a few more moments of using the bird, he said "It's a little less than two miles in that direction." He pointed slightly off where we had been walking before.

We picked up our stuff and walked that way after we watched Daniel's bird shatter into ink droplets. Go, Sai.

"Have I ever mentioned how much you remind me of him?" Hazel asked Daniel. I was a little surprised- she had told me this last week and I didn't think she would ever be saying it to Daniel's face. But a lot had happened to us since them. We, all of us, had become more of a team, and teams shouldn't have secrets like that.

"No," Daniel said dismissively. I looked over at him, still not seeing the resemblance Hazel thought was so clear. Daniel had dark skin and long hair, but that wasn't even important. It was their thoughts, their emotions and lack thereof. Daniel pretended not to care. Sai was bred not to care, and embraced it. Even when he'd teamed up with Team Kakashi and begun to understand human emotions, he couldn't really _feel _like a normal person. Daniel did. I knew Daniel did. Both of us had seen it. But Hazel still insisted.

I could also remember her being riveted by the Sasuke and Sai arc, making me stay up most of the night to watch it with her. Maybe she was just disappointed that Sai wouldn't be around for another three or four years.

"You act like him," Hazel said. "It's not quite the same, but it's like you can understand, but don't really care. You can choose or choose not to have empathy for other people, but you're completely devoid of sympathy."

"Have I told you that I think you have a superiority complex?" Daniel asked, and I smirked at the perfect hit.

"Yes," Hazel snapped, and this effectively shut her up.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, all of us intermittently trying and failing to start conversations. Finally, as per usual with this bunch, I was the one to end it. "Let's play a game," I suggested, raising my voice to the point of ridiculity to really get their attention.

It was effective. My silent comrades both actually responded. "Sure," Hazel said immediately. That was the spirit!

"What game?" Daniel asked.

"We can't exactly play chess here, and I would pawn _all _of you at Geography," Hazel said.

I raised my eyes. "Is that a challenge?" I asked. I started with Argentina and it all went downhill from there. About thirty A's later, we were all bored.

"Albania. If nobody wants to continue, I win," Hazel said smugly. _Antarctica, Alaska, Amsterdam, Asia, Africa…used them all. _

"Fine. Let's play a _fun _game," I said, remedifying my suggestion. "How about like a team bonding type thing?" Seeing my comrades tense up at the personal implications of team bonding, I kept going. "This game is cool, because-"

"I just lost the game," Hazel said loudly, and Daniel and I chorused the obligatory refrain.

"Fuck the game," I muttered seriously. The damn thing had taken over my life back in middle school. "But anyway, we could, like, take turns asking each other questions, and if you don't answer one you don't get to ask the next one." The "like" just slipped out. I don't think I'd even said it since before I met Auby, who had helped me create and develop this game and was always a willing participant. She would never, ever hear the word "like" if she could help it.

"That sounds kind of dumb," said Daniel bluntly. Jerk.

"It's fun, though," I insisted. They would understand. Auby and I had both enjoyed it, different as we were. "Trust me. Come on, someone just ask me a question."

"Why didn't you get us to stop sooner when you knew your arm was hurt?" Hazel asked, cutting right to the chase. That girl was like a lobotomy device when she wanted to be. Auby and I had always started with the easy stuff, the deeper questions and conversations taking place only at night in disgusting hotel rooms. Even then, it had always started off awkward but easy.

But Hazel knew me too well. And since this was my game, I had to set a good example for the others. "Because, I was kind of denying it myself," I admitted, touching the bandage as if to remind myself it was still there. Daniel was right, I had to admit- the tightness helped.

_Daniel. _"Okay, my turn," I said. Hazel had started out tough, so I had every right to continue the trend. "Why do you keep trying to cover up the medical stuff you know?"

Daniel looked kind of surprised, as though his knowledge had actually been more than transparent. Have I mentioned how much I love this game?

"That was kind of a crap question," I began, hoping it wasn't too obvious that I was just buying time for myself. "I learned from taking bio and stuff. Have you taken biology?" I knew well that Drew and Hazel had only begun ninth grade when they'd started switching universes, so I guess the question was kind of rhetorical, but it put him in his place.

"I know there's more to it," Drew said simply.

"That's not a question and it's not even your turn," I replied, matching his easy, light tone. I had made a pact with myself never to lie, but I knew that even someone who claims not to be a liar needs to distort the truth sometimes. I pride myself on my ability to do that. We did learn about basic medical stuff in bio. However, it was being pushed and elbowed and slammed into lockers and brick walls by my middle school BFFs Chris and Darren that had taught me how to make it feel better, how to improvise bandages and ice packs when you were trying to hide it, and just how hard it was to get through an injury all alone. Drew didn't need to know that.

"I don't think you understand the point of this game," Drew insisted annoyingly. "This is about sharing all the crap that we usually stay away from. It's good for the soul."

"Sometimes a little technobabble is good for the soul," Hazel muttered, and I waited patiently while she and Drew laughed at some reference I didn't understand.

"I've also heard heroin is good for the soul," I said, having had plenty of time to craft that response.

"This game is good for the soul. Seriously. It's like meditation only not boring," Drew defended, but now it was more of a humor contest than an argument.

"What makes you such an expert, anyway? I thought you just made it up," Hazel asked. Obviously, drama ensued.

Drew had the face that I liked to call OFM (Oh fuck moment) and looked like he was at a loss for words. Hazel looked almost dangerous as she stared at him, waiting for his _damn good _response. We all stopped walking. Drew debated internally for another moment before finally responding to his possessive little girlfriend. "I met someone else- someone like us- on the Supernatural universe. You both know that it was a pretty damn kick ass universe, but there was also a lot of driving time involved. This is pretty much how we spent it."

_Now who's withholding the truth, Drew? _But I had to admit, he was pretty damn good at it. His face had relaxed as if he'd finally gotten some weight off his chest. "What kind of questions did she ask?" I inquired, knowing that Drew would probably lie. Maybe it would teach him to stop asking me stupid questions. Eye for an eye. And hey, it was my turn to ask a question anyway.

"Mostly trivia and stuff," Drew responded. Lies, all lies. "Like how I thought this game was going to go until Hazel started off hard." He was hardly lying at all. Just diverting, like what I do. And I had a healthy respect for his ability to do that.

"She was like us? Non-canon?" I asked to confirm, no longer pretending to abide by the rules of the game.

"Yeah," Drew said testily.

"And you didn't think this was important enough to mention to us?" Hazel asked, her voice rising. I didn't protest- she had a point. It was important. None of us knew how many of us there really were, and all I knew was that Hazel and now Drew had each met one. And then there was us. But there were a hell of a lot of universes out there.

"Well, I guess that's why I started this game. So all these important things we may not really think are important can come out in the open," Drew suggested. Wow, when had nice guy Drew turned into such a master manipulator? I had taught him well.

"That's not what I meant," Hazel said, and there was a stony silence for a minute before Drew abruptly changed topics.

"Okay. Hazel, what major minor character dies in the Shippuden episode titled "The End?"" Drew asked.

He was entirely successful in diverting Hazel's attention. "I'm still getting over that happening on the show! And it hasn't even happened yet!" she said, smacking him lightly on the arm. Did problems ever last with these two? I didn't even understand how it was possible to have such a complex and yet problem free relationship. Hazel shifted her attention. "Daniel: How many members of Akatsuki were there by the Invasion of Pain arc?"

That one was almost actually difficult. At least, it required counting. "Six. Drew: In what episode of part two do Naruto and Sasuke meet again?"

"Reunion. Hence the name. Duh."

And just like that, I was pwning them both at Naruto trivia.

As we walked along asking each other increasingly difficult Naruto questions, I started wondering: how the hell could someone who never lies be so dishonest? Daniel had his talent honed down to a science, a deceptive way of getting people to trust him.

"Yes!" Drew hissed, pumping his unbandaged arm up and down. "We made it."

"We won," I said, slightly astonished. It had all gone perfectly. For once, we'd been able to do it totally right. It had been far too many universes since that had happened.

"Not quite. There's still another thirty feet to the tower," Daniel said reasonably, and we quickly ran across it and touched the brick.

"Now can we celebrate?" Drew asked, and we all grinned at each other, even Daniel. We were safe. We had made it. And this universe would be better off because of us. We even had the freaking scrolls!

We walked inside, all feeling cocky. We had just saved a universe.

Everything was kind of a blur until we were standing in a line with all our eyes secretly trained on the urgently whispered conversation Sasuke and Sakura were having. When the guy whose name none of us could ever remember asked if there were any volunteers to drop out, Kabuto volunteered, and to all of our surprise, so did Drew.

Well, I guess it shouldn't have been surprising. Drew had probably been planning it since before he'd hurt his arm because of the even numbers issue.

First match, as it was supposed to be, was Sasuke versus one of Kabuto's cronies. Next was Daniel and…Chouji.

I could see Daniel calculating in his head. Chouji had lost his original match, and the guy he'd fought against (who I would probably be getting) was of no consequence to the story, since the fights never actually took place. Daniel and I looked at each other and shared a nod. This was going to work out.

Chouji was at the disadvantage that Daniel already knew what he was going to try to do in this fight. Also, I may be biased, but I was pretty sure Daniel was the superior fighter.

Chouji made the first move, the human bowling ball jutsu that he seemed to use all the freaking time. Daniel peacefully countered it with a substitution, the real Daniel coming up behind him and using another sign that I didn't even know to snap Chouji out of the jutsu. Daniel was smiling, and I knew why. He was enjoying this fight more than anything he'd ever done. I didn't know how many years he'd been waiting for this moment.

I faced the inferior fighter head on, waiting for him to make a move and wondering how far I would need to go to get him. I didn't want or need to resort to any cheap tricks, and I knew I couldn't kill him because he was a major supporting character.

Chouji prepared a sign that looked close to but not quite like a shadow clone jutsu, but I countered by temporarily paralyzing his arms and going after him physically before he had a chance to do anything else. He got one weak punch in during a brief scuffle, but I got one good, solid kick to his head in and he was knocked out.

I was in the final round.

I, Daniel Adams, former otaku and Naruto fanfiction writer, was in the final round of the Chunin Exams. I guess I now understood why Drew and Hazel loved this life so much.

I watched Daniel's fight respectfully and smiled when he high fived Hazel on his way up to the balcony to watch the rest of the matches. "Nice job," I congratulated when he came to stand next to me. Some random lady had given me a bag of ice for my arm and it was feeling a lot better now.

"Thanks," Daniel said breezily, clearly full of adrenaline from the fight. There was a twinkle of light in his eye that I usually didn't see there. "I hope Hazel does okay, though. The guy she's probably going to have won his fight originally."

Won. Here, that meant he had a better chance of surviving. _From here on, there will be corpses. _We'd signed that waiver. For a few seconds, I feared for my girlfriend's life.

Then I realized that was ridiculous and came back to earth. Hazel wasn't going to die. She liked the ninja battling thing, but she had a healthy sense of self preservation. If anyone was definitely going to be okay, it was her.

Daniel and I silently watched Shino beat the Abumi guy who we never saw again, and then it was Kankuro versus some weirdo that not even Daniel could remember the name of. "Next halfway realistic universe, I'm going to buy a whole bunch of manga to use as a reference guide," Daniel said.

"Good idea," I said. "Hazel and I watched like the entire series of Naruto last time we were together, and I know we were both thinking about going there, but somehow we never thought of that."

"She would think it was cheating," Daniel asserted. I looked at him. He looked as though he had just made a comment about the weather. That was one of my favorite things about Daniel- his careless ability to make deep, accurate perceptions of people's motives and not to really seem to think it was important.

Like this one. Hazel would probably want to figure all this stuff out for herself, because that was what she thought was fair. Daniel would resort to anything that got the job done, and myself? I had nothing against using manga to get through an anime universe, but if Hazel did and I was there with her, I would support her all the way. Anyway, playing it by ear was more fun.

Even I knew that the next fight was Sakura versus Ino (and Hazel and I had been watching this arc at about three in the morning; we'd both fallen asleep during Hinata versus Neji and had to rewatch it in the morning), but the names that came up on the screen were Hazel Marin (how had they even gotten her last name?) and Dosu Kinuta.

I remembered that that guy died later in the arc anyway, in that episode with all of Gaara's issues. So Hazel could do whatever the hell she wanted.

And that scared me. How far would she go?

Have you guys ever battled a ninja while pretending to be one? No? Well, then you're missing out on a lot of fun, fear, and accomplishment.

I faced the Dosu freak, sizing him up. He was several inches taller than my five feet five inches, but that kind of thing didn't matter in fights here. I brushed my bangs aside (a symbolic gesture only; they fell right back into my face), and the weird guy officiating the Chunin Exams called for us to begin.

I readied myself, knowing that my special skills required that he make the first move. I was not disappointed- within seconds, a visible wall of sound was barreling towards me.

I jumped up, and there be my special skill. I hit the ceiling lightly and used it for momentum as I half-flew back down toward him. Yep, this was the ninja life.

Dosu didn't have time to raise his weird sound blasters at me while I was coming toward him, and I hit him head-on while he was defenseless. I tackled him like a football player, making sure his head hit the ground hard. He was out. I had won!

I think the officiator was about to call it when a punch made of sheer noise blasted me backward. Have you ever thought you were going to go deaf or your ears were going to start bleeding because the fire alarm at your school or something was too loud? So have I. But now, with my ears actually bleeding, I took it all back.

I fired a basic air style jutsu at him, just a gust of wind, but I was off balance and it didn't even knock him over. He readied his sound things to blast me again.

No, _not _happening. I wasn't stupid enough to use the same defense as last time, but I pretended that I was going to jump up so he would point his blasters above me, then ducked and rolled. He was still releasing another wave of that horrendous sound when I rolled to the side, stood up, and came after him at a 45 degee angle, slamming both feet into his head.

The side of his head connected with the pavement that made up the arena floor with an unnatural thud. I stepped off him quickly and froze.

He wasn't moving at all. His chest wasn't even moving.

A medical team came in and checked him over, finishing all too quickly. He was dead. I had, unwillingly, killed him.

I was frozen in shock. She had actually killed him. Maybe that hadn't been her intent, but the Hazel I had once known would never, ever do something like that. What was she turning into?

Uncharacteristically, it was Daniel who took on the role or carer. "Come on," he said, and I followed him down the stairs even though it was technically against the rules. Hazel turned around, looking kind of bemused, and I interpreted it as shock. She definitely cared, she had to. She wasn't Auby. She was Hazel and I had known her forever. But I had never known a Hazel who had killed a person. Who ever would have killed a person.

"It happened anyway, remember?" Daniel whispered.

"Not by my hand," Hazel replied softly, and I threaded my hand with hers, knowing that she was still the same person. Maybe one day, she would have to forgive me in the same way.

No choice. Kabuto's ultimatum had been to have it by tonight. Sasuke knew how to get it, he had read so much, all of it unnecessary. The simple bloodshed was the only thing that counted.

Tonight, someone would have to die.

It was the last night before the final challenge of the Chunin Exams. Daniel was in the other room either studying or just vegging, and Drew and I were in the main room, finally getting some much needed time alone.

And we're dating. We did some stuff that it's technically illegal for teenagers to do back on Yeiverica.

I wished the Universe would just give us more perfect moments like this.

Drew pulled away from the kiss. "Stop it," he said, way too low and intense for this to be naught but playful banter. "Just stop it. I can't listen to that anymore." Had I said that out loud?

"What do you mean?" I asked, concerned. I pulled away a little myself, giving him space.

"It's your fascination with that thing you call the Universe." Drew's tone was scathing and bitter. "I don't understand. At all. Why don't you hate it? Why do you _worship _it?"

Immediately I was on the defensive. "I don't worship it. And you want to know why I don't hate it? Why I believe in it? _Because I have to!"_

Drew looked at me skeptically. "No you don't. Shouldn't I be living proof of that? Why do you think you have to?" He demanded.

"Because it exists, Drew. When we change, something provokes it. Jack told us only a few hours after we arrived on the universe. Maybe she put the idea in his head to bring up deliberate and selective time travel-"

"That's what I hate!" Drew exploded, standing up and walking as far away from the bed as the room would condone. "You gave it a gender. You speak of it _affectionately. _You enjoy the idea that it exists."

"And why don't you?" I asked, trying to be reasonable and give Drew some time to rant.

"Because it can tear us apart!" Drew snapped, glaring at me. "That's the part I hate most, and still you embrace it's presence and look to it for guidance. Why do you believe in something that can keep us apart and will? What could you possibly gain from that?" Drew looked like he was going to continue, but I interrupted.

"The universe keeps us apart, I guess, sometimes, but it's only to make us appreciate each other's presence more when we do get a chance to be together," I said, and I would have kept going had Drew not interrupted.

"Oh, so now the thing has our best interests at heart?" he asked, his voice positively dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes! And more importantly, it has the universe's best interests at heart. There's a purpose to all that's going on, I can feel it?"

"Can you? Then please, enlighten me, because I know that I _have no fucking clue_ !" Drew shouted. I was put to a standstill by his violent tone, but he continued without prompting from me. "Remember when it used to be us against the world?" he asked rhetorically, bitter and ironic. Of course I remembered.

"I wish we could go back there," I said, for once this evening- hell, this universe- agreeing with him.

"And whose fault is it that we're not?" Drew asked softly, all the anger and pent up rage he had just shown beginning to dissipate.

"We aren't seeing on the same level any more," I observed. Why couldn't Drew just see sense? I didn't understand him, he knew that, and somehow, he didn't understand me. I hated this so much. I knew he did too. Why did it have to be this way?

I had always kind of loved nights. They were always really cute and often symbolic in media, and I had always dreamed of having an important conversation with someone at night, when the rest of the world was asleep. Night was when I had allowed myself to be myself even back on my original universe, when long, dark nights half- scared me for the shadows and uncertainties they held. This almost romantic intrigue nights held for me is probably the reason I was more than willing to leave the flat once Drew and Hazel's voices started rising.

"Daniel." I turned around to hear my name, spoken in a familiar monotone. Have I mentioned yet exactly how glad I was that this version of the Naruto universe had the characters speaking in English with the original Japanese voices? It was great.

"Yeah?" I replied, turning around to see Sasuke walking up to me, almost blending in with the night in his dark clothes and natural darkness. "What are you doing out so late?" I asked. Small talk wasn't really our thing, per se, but it was a sincere question.

"I saw you walking and decided to come meet you," Sasuke replied. Well, that was flattering, at least.

"My teammates were getting heated up for an epic argument" I paused for a moment, wondering how Sasuke would feel about American slang "so I decided to get out of there. Glad you happened to be watching." I gave him an insincere half smile.

"There's something we need to discuss," Sasuke said coldly, and all traces of that fake smile faded from my face. With him, I never needed to pretend.

There. I had said it. I hated her universe. I hated her for loving it. I hated it for keeping us apart, for creating this rift that defined us now.

I wished that this would all just stop. I wish that we could just go back to our old lives and have everything be normal and okay. Or just rewind a couple universes. Yeiverica was good. The Whoniverse was good. We were alone together, we were best friends, and we understood each other back then.

Back then, I would have been able to tell all of that to Hazel. Now, she was to distant. Somewhere along the way, I had lost her.

"I'm going for a walk," I said abruptly. I couldn't stand being in that room anymore. That room that had been the site of so many good times, now all tainted because of one awful argument. "See you when I get back."

Sasuke led me in silence toward the school. The silence wasn't strange to me, more like familiar. I didn't mind it, I knew he didn't mind it. Here, we didn't have to pretend to make stupid conversation.

"I used to love coming here," he said randomly as we reached the playground near the school. I kind of nodded, not sure what I was supposed to say to that. Then he turned to look right at me. "Why do you interest me so much?"

Since it was clear that he was talking only to himself, I didn't answer. I wondered if even coming outside tonight had been a mistake. What was going on, really?

"I'm sorry," he said, and now I was really getting creeped out.

"What for?" I asked sharply. There was very little I hated more than not knowing things, especially if they possibly involved my life.

At first, I was totally unprepared. Sasuke and I were friends, sure, but I had no clue it would be like this, ever. When he grabbed me and kissed me, I was at first completely in shock. But I quickly melted into it, and for about half a second, it was beautiful.

Then he pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the gut.

I don't know if she responded, because I got out of there fast and the next thing I knew I was breathing in the cool night air. Of course it was night. Everything important always happened to us at night. Our first kiss. Our best times, on all the universes. Even our own.

I don't know how far I walked, how long, or where I was going. The chill blew straight through my thin t-shirt, but I ignored it even as my fingers grew numb. I was still too hot-headed and shaken after the argument to think about seeking external physical warmth.

I don't know what made me glance up and look, really look for once instead of just gazing blankly as I had since I had left Hazel. But I did, and I saw the too-large lump lying in the grass.

Of course, I made the mistake of going over to look at it.

Why was I not crying? I should be crying.

It's bad, it's really, really bad and I can't help but know it. The blood pouring out of the too big gash bled out of me in a throbbing pattern, taking with it come of the pain and fear of dying as I became more and more delirious and dizzy. The blood was fascinating, I decided, staring at it. I could tell just when it would pulse out again, dribbling red down me through my slashed shirt, sliding to the ground. Slide…just like the slide on the playground, mere yards away. Just like the slide at my old school. I'd been staring at it, just sitting on the swing, and got this great idea for one of my first Naruto fanfics. I had been sitting on that same swing on one of my first days attending Maybourne Elementary, in the middle of my sixth grade year. That had been where I was sitting when Chris and Darren noticed me for the first time. They always noticed me, even when I was trying to hide. I knew it was because I looked weak. But I could never, never let myself be weak.

_I'm dying_, I somehow thought coherently. Blood was spilling out of me and I was sick and dizzy and the pain was scarce and dull but I was dying and I knew it. All that time- all those hours with the knives. The very knives that had ended my mother's life and almost stolen mine. _His _knives. The very knives he tried to kill me with, when I was young and weak. After that day I promised never to be weak again. Was I weak now? I had wasted so much time learning to defend myself, and now I was still dying. Dying as I could have all those years ago, as I probably deserved to. Somehow, back then, I was strong enough. Or just fast enough. But now, when I know I should be strong, when I thought I was strong, it wasn't enough. I could still be killed. I wasn't above that.

Especially here. Here, in this universe, Hazel and Drew had taught me that I was strong enough to change the world. And I did, for the worse. It would all be so much worse now, and I knew it, always had known it, and none of this would have happened if I had been strong enough to say no. If I had been strong enough, I would still be alive. But now, there's so much blood in the future of this universe and there's so much blood here, now, running out of me and staining my shirt and the grass below, in front of my eyes making my vision fuzzy and me head spin and taking the pain out of me with it.

I'm not sure if I remember the world going black.

Daniel. Blood. Lots of blood. Eyes blank. Breathing? I couldn't hear. I couldn't bear to lean down and check, only stand there, wondering stupidly what had gone wrong and how I personally could fix it.

My breaths became more frequent and I felt almost dizzy. Shock. Daniel was dead, or dying, and I couldn't fix it. I was alone and Hazel was smoldering back at the flat and Daniel was here on the ground dead. I couldn't do anything. I had never felt so helpless in my life.

Suddenly, the nighttime breeze picked up and brought me back to my senses. I was here, doing nothing. Could Daniel still be alive?

Springing into action in a single moment, swinging from shock to adrenaline, I utilized all the medical training I had (which was mostly from hiding behind the door watching ER with my parents as a child because I wasn't actually allowed to) and checked his pulse and breathing. I couldn't find a pulse anywhere, but I could barely find my own when my hands weren't shaking. That meant nothing.

He could just be unconscious. That would explain the glazed over eyes and the serene expression he usually took on when asleep. And breath he gave could be lost in the wind.

But the blood…there was just way too much. For a moment, I found myself thinking about the ridiculous amounts of blood that always spurted out of people in the original Naruto anime and wondered if this was totally normal.

But adding it all up, all the factors, I knew. Daniel was dead. Daniel had been murdered.

Once I thought this, really, truly acknowledged it, I did something I had always been pretty sure I would never, ever do. I looked up.

And started yelling. "Why did you do this? If there's something here, why is he dead? Why am I alive and Daniel dead? It's all because of your fucking _Universe, _Hazel!" I calmed myself down and took a deep breath. Hazel was not in the sky, she was on the other side of town. And I would no longer resort to praying to her universe. Ever. It just wasn't in me.

As I stared at the overcast sky, the first raindrops hit my face, my bare arms. I looked down to avoid being stung by one in the eye and saw them beginning to hit Daniel.

But the time the rain was coming down in sheets and my hair was plastered to my forehead, the blood on the ground had almost all been either pelted into the dirt of swept away. All that was left was Daniel's lifeless form and a faint rusty stain on his t-shirt.

There is a hope beyond this night

There is a savior in the sky

Giving his life to set this world on fire

So as the darkness closes in

Know that the sun will shine again

Bringing salvation to this world on fire

I was about to go out and patch things up with Drew when it started raining. We hardly ever fought like this, and I didn't want it to become a habit.

But it didn't warrant going out in a rainstorm, especially Drew was going to come stomping back soon anyway, complaining about the temperature and inappropriate timing of the rain and how it had ruined his dramatic exit.

Murphy's Law. I was so sure it would happen that way, so of course it didn't.

Before the rain stopped, the room turned all swirly and funky. I was about to transfer universes.

My last coherent thought before I was gone.

END Part 3

The Third Parallel  
>(in which everything gets totally screwed over)<p>

This was different. This time was different.

That was the one real coherent thought I had as I was wrenched through the abyss. At first, my mind was crowded with thoughts about Hazel, all we had shared, and how we had left things. It crossed my mind that I might not ever see her again and yelling at her could be my last memory I would have of her. Forever.

After this stream of thought, panic set in. If this were a normal time/universe travel loop or wormhole or whatever, I should be there by now. The abyss was fearsome and seemed deadly, but I had been here at least ten seconds and it was closing in on all sides, and the not being able to breathe aspect was starting to make itself known by a burning in my lungs. This was different. Something was wrong.

I was panicking, and it was almost a surprise when I was thrust out into some reality and cool air rushed into my lungs. I was here. It was over. But where was here?

I had stopped fuming only a few minutes after Drew left and was sitting on the bed flipping channels when I realized that it was happening. No! Not now, when Drew and I were at odds. This couldn't happen now. She had split us up before, but this was so different, so much worse.

I don't think I actually had the time to scream "No!" before I was sucked into the abyss fully. I couldn't even tell, because soon enough the abyss was pressing down on me, all black with random spots of color that I couldn't really identify. It took only a few seconds to realize that it was taking too long. Where the hell was I going this time?

I don't really want to admit that by the third second I thought I was going home.

I knew it was different from the transfer between Lost and Supernatural, Supernatural to Twilight. (How I had ended up in Twilight, I have no idea. But it was actually kind of fun, even though Rennie and I always hated the book with a vengeance.)

Even as the darkness closed in and made me want to scream I held out hope that I was going back. Finally.

When I was finally thrust out, I opened my eyes and saw Hazel, looking confused as heck.

This was most definitely not home.

I looked up, my first thought being _so much for Hazel and I leaving it on bad terms. _Hazel lay right across from me on the…where the hell were we, anyway?

I heard a sound that sounded like "Unh" and turned toward it to see Auby sitting up slowly, a little to my left. We were arranged in a perfect triangle, about twenty feet apart.

"What's going on?" Hazel asked, though in reality it sounded more like whazzoinon. I shook my head, looking around and trying to get the hang of my surroundings. It didn't take too long. We were in a big, white room. I had the eerie feeling of déjà vu- how many times in books and whatnot had the main character been kidnapped and taken to a featureless white room?

As my vision cleared, I realized that any resemblances to anything I'd ever seen in literature stopped at this color. Hazel, Auby and I were in the middle of a big, white abyss. There were no walls. No doors. No end to the whiteness. I wondered how long it would take each of us to go completely insane here.

I stood slowly, then promptly fell down as I realized that this thing didn't even have a floor. Seriously. None at all. I don't know what I fell on, what I had stood on before, or what was holding us up. Once upon a time, I would have wanted to analyze it for hours. Now, I just wanted out. I had reached the limit of the unknown I needed in my life time and time again. I so did not need some ridiculous visual and gravitational phenomenon on some universe I didn't even know of.

"Drew?" I asked clearly. He was awake here, he had looked at me. I know I've been here before, but I was sure this was a dream.

Well, maybe more of a nightmare for Drew- his girlfriend and a girl he had kissed in the same- well, not room exactly. It kind of reminded me of the inside of a mountain, except it was all white and it didn't stop.

"Are you guys okay?" Drew asked, after a failed attempt to stand up.

"Yeah," Hazel called out. I don't think she had even looked at me yet.

"I'm good," I replied. "You?"

"Where the hell are we?" Hazel asked, even though I had thought Drew was about to answer my question.

"Not a clue," I replied unhelpfully, forcing her to end the ignorance of my presence.

"You're not dead yet," she said by way of greeting, still hardly glancing at me.

I nodded. "Same to you," I said, looking at Drew for help. Drew stood up, probably trying not to think about the lack of a floor this time, and walked over to where Hazel was slowly making her way to her feet.

Should I go over? Would I be interrupting something? I knew I couldn't get any farther down on Hazel's blacklist, and would even Drew consider me a friend after Hazel told him what I had done? I took a long time to stand up, testing my footing on the strange ground. Trying to look down made me dizzy. It was like I was standing on a cloud, except it wasn't really misty. Or soft. Just translucent.

"Hi," I said timidly as I walked over to their little lover's reunion. With the way Hazel had described Drew to me on the island, I was surprised that she wasn't throwing her arms around him.

"I like your hair," I complimented all too generically, swiping my own bangs out of my face as was my nervous habit. I actually did, though. The black streaks fit her.

Hazel raised her eyebrows and kind of smiled, noting just how generic and out of place my comment was. "Thanks. I like your shirt," she replied, and I didn't even know what to say after that. 'I'm sorry I tried to kill you' just didn't seem like enough. What would you say to a person who should have either bitch slapped or punched you by now?

"So, I'm sorry for being a bitch back on the LOST universe," I finally said, adding a note of humor to my voice to compensate for the enormity of what I was saying. "You tried to help me. Thanks, even though I didn't realize it then." I was just babbling. I clamped my mouth shut and waited for a response.

"It's okay." Hazel said the socially accepted answer for such a comment. "I've thought about it, and I probably would have acted the same way if I hadn't gone in with Drew." She smiled encouragingly, and I smiled back. Maybe this could actually be the beginnings of friendship.

Auby seemed to have mellowed out a lot, and for that I was grateful. She was kind of awkward, but at least she wasn't trying to push me off the edge of whatever the hell this was.

We talked for about fifteen seconds and then we had no words left for each other. I looked behind me at Drew, knowing that he was the perfect person to diffuse awkward situations, but his back was turned and he seemed to be staring intently at the edge of this place.

"Drew?" I asked tentatively, expecting him to come back to Ear- well, here with a smile and a witty comment. He didn't turn around. I walked as normally as I could the five steps it took to reach him and tapped him on the shoulder. "You okay?" Maybe he was already going insane from the sheer weirdness of this place.

Drew finally looked at me, and I knew that this wasn't a place for joking. He looked like some combination of hurt, sad, and shocked. "I'm sorry about the argument, I guess I kind of overreacted," I began, waiting for Drew to say something similar.

"Daniel's dead," he said in a whisper.

"What?" I said sharply, knowing I had heard correctly but not daring to believe it. _Believe it. _"But it's impossible. None of us can die on these universes."

"No, Hazel, _you _can't die on these universes," Drew said. "Daniel's dead. Why do you think he isn't here?"

I actually looked around, confirming his assumption. Daniel was not here. "But what about that girl you met on the Supernatural universe that you mentioned?" I asked. "She's not here."

"Yeah, she is, actually," Drew said. "Hi, Auby."

Auby remained silent. I took this odd turn of events in stride and pursued Drew's questions. "But why are you assuming he's dead? Just because he's not here?"

"Because _I just saw him lying on the ground, covered in blood, Hazel!" _he said, raising his voice to a point that almost scared me. Drew never really yelled.

I stood there in shock, trying to process this. Daniel, dead? "What happened?" I finally asked in little more than a whisper.

"I don't even know. I was walking, and saw him, and he was already dead," Drew said. His voice sounded almost sarcastic now, and I immediately coined it as a defense mechanism.

"That can't be true. It's an illusion, or something," I said, in denial and knowing it but still burying myself deeper. "Maybe the universe thought-"

"DO NOT EVEN MENTION THE FUCKING UNIVERSE," Drew yelled and I stood in shock. "Don't even bother. Daniel was dead, I felt his body, and now we're all here and he's not."

I looked up at my boyfriend in shock and denial. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't. Not Daniel, who had always seemed like he could survive anything with pure stubbornness and strength. It just couldn't be.

But it was.

Why couldn't I stop picturing Daniel Adams? I knew lots of Daniels. The one Drew and Hazel were talking about probable wasn't any of them. But every time they said that name, Daniel's dark eyes and rare smirk came to mind.

Daniel was Kate's foster brother and came to almost all of our soccer games in middle school. He was a little awkward and quirky, but he was also really sweet and I admired how close he and Kate were even though they were so different.

The reason Daniel Adams really stands out in my mind, though, is that he was like Rennie. He liked anime and even wrote fanfiction, just like me. And I had never had a chance to talk to him about it, because Kate could never know about that side of me.

No chance, until the week before I was transferred.

That was why I wasn't thinking of Daniel Smith, football player, or Daniel Moreno, a shy kid who had stood next to me in fifth grade chorus. If there was a Daniel living this life, it would be him.

I looked at Drew and Hazel, having an urgent conversation mostly in whispers that I couldn't entirely make out. They had come together, as one. If I had gotten to Kate's house two minutes sooner and been near Daniel when it happened, would we have gone to the same place? Would it have been different?

I was blowing this way out of proportion. "The guy you're talking about…it's not Daniel Adams, right?" I asked, half expecting condescending and confused looks. The confusion was there. But it was shocked confusion, not what the hell did that girl just say confusion, how the hell does that girl know just who we're talking about confusion.

"You know him? Hazel asked incredulously. "What universe did you meet him on?"

Since it was clear now that we were talking about the same person, I replied "The first one. The one we all spent about fourteen years on. We were neighbors."

Drew just looked at me blankly. Someone had clearly had enough emotional trauma for one day. "But you didn't come here together?" Hazel confirmed.

I shook my head. "I had no idea…he's dead?" I asked, finally combining the three halves of the conversation in my head. Daniel here was one thing, but Daniel, here, _dead…_

Drew finally spoke again. "On the Naruto universe, he was killed. Or something," he said.

Of course it would be that universe. That was the universe he'd been writing about the time I had caught him writing fanfiction. The one real conversation we'd ever had.

*"Give me like three seconds to get changed for practice, okay?" Kate asked as we entered the Tudor style house she lived in. I knew that Kate's three seconds would in reality be about ten minutes, but I nodded my assent just the same.

"I'll be down here," I said. I counted to three just for fun as she sprinted upstairs and walked toward her living room to maybe get started on my Algebra I homework or iron out the details of that new LOST fic that I had started off a plot bunny in study hall today.

I almost turned around when I saw her foster brother, Daniel, sitting at the computer at the corner of the living room. Daniel and I had never interacted much and he looked too intent on whatever it was he was doing for me to start a non awkward conversation with him.

What he was doing…whatever it was involved size 11 Calibri font, which was no longer accepted by even the eighth grade teachers, and words with capital letters and red squiggly lines underneath. Names. Daniel was writing.

As a writer, I have an innate curiosity that propelled me to walk past the computer to the bookshelf and finger Kate's copy of Twilight- blech- while intently studying the screen.

The names with the squigglies were Naruto and Sasuke. Daniel was writing anime fanfiction.

Rennie wrote the same type of thing. She even wrote slash, which was called yaoi in most of her fandoms and generally freaked me out. I wondered if Daniel and Rennie had ever read each other's stuff. That would be too weird.

"What'cha doing?" I asked casually, pulling a Dan Brown book I had already read off the shelf and nonchalantly scanning the back cover. I had to see how he would respond.

"Writing," Daniel responded- not a lie, but frustratingly little information.

"Writing what?" I prompted.

Daniel switched windows to an Internet gaming site. "You wouldn't understand," he said dismissively. Kate would have dropped it right there. Rennie would have mentioned Naruto fanfiction from the beginning. But my way was more fun.

"Actually, I think you may find that I know more about Naruto fanfiction than you may think," I said craftily, and he finally turned to look at me, his internet browser still showing some dumb mini-golf game that he had probably never actually played. "My friend Rennie writes it all the time. I beta her stuff. I mostly write for TV shows, though."

I would probably have had my mouth open, staring, at this time, but Daniel appeared to take it in stride. "Never figured you for the type," he said casually.

"I get that a lot," I said honestly. Actually, that wasn't true. But it probably would be if there were more than two, well, three other people in the entire world who knew about that side of me.

"So what do you write for?" Daniel asked, spinning the chair around so he was fully facing me. "I'll read for some shows. I usually just do A and M, though."

"I'll read like, two, A and M fandoms, and that's only when my friend asks me to, really. What you were just writing for and Loveless. I write a lot for Lost, Supernatural, and CSI, when I'm in the mood."

"I've read Loveless, didn't like it all that much," Daniel said. "And I don't watch Lost. It kind of scares me."

I smirked, not sure what to say next. This had already been one of the most fulfilling conversations of my life.

"Auby, let's go!" Kate called as she ran back down the stairs.

"Coming!" I shouted back, and I left without another glance at Daniel.*

I had even seen him a few times after that, in passing mostly, but I didn't want to start another conversation about that stuff in front of Kate. Was that why we had started and ended in different places? If we hadn't, would we have been more like Drew and Hazel?

I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all. Here we were, me, Hazel, and Auby, without Daniel, on whatever the hell this weird thing was. We hadn't been here five minutes, but I swear I could feel the odd whiteness of the place getting inside my head. Something was just off.

The change came slowly, like paint drying. There was a cloud, and it turned into a raincloud, and then it was just a hole of billowing black- something. It reminded me of smoke behind a glass door, except there was no glass door.

The moment I decided that I had truly gone insane was when the black hole started speaking. The worst part? There was no noise involved. It was speaking into our heads.

_Hello._

It was kind of like the Ellimist, I decided immediately. Whatever it was. I could pretend I was just back in the Animorphs universe, something that I understood, something that I could face. Not an entirely new situation and location and freaking reality.

Surprisingly, it was Auby who spoke up. I had thought the passive- aggressive little bitch would be acting the former in this situation. But her eyes were determined in a way that was, for a nice change, not insane looking. "What are you?"

_You all know me. Or at least, you know of me. I am your she, Hazel. I am the epitome of the universe who makes decisions for you. _

Well, that totally and completely stopped me in my tracks.

I faced the thing, feeling it inside my mind. I could be defiant here. I hated this thing for doing this to me, doing this to Drew, despite the humor he used to cover up how much he hated it, and giving this same mission to Daniel and then killing him. It wasn't fair, and I know life isn't fair, but this thing was the _reason _my life wasn't fair.

_Auby. You've turned out remarkably better than I've expected, _it said, and I tried to let no emotion show on my face. _I was expecting to have to kill you. I almost did, you know, after you tried to off my Hazel._

I think the thing I was most surprised at was the all-powerful being's use of modern slang, anyway.

I didn't respond to it. It wasn't worth it, and Hazel and Drew weren't saying anything. Whatever Hazel thought, it was us against her, here.

The goddamn thing was actually real.

That was really the only coherent thought other than 'what the fuck?.,-' that I had for the entire first few minutes of the encounter. Auby argued with it a little. I didn't even want to look to see how Hazel was taking it.

Then, shock turned into rage. This thing had sent me and Hazel to that universe, then split us up. Then it had given us everything we had ever wanted for two months, then split us up again. It had brought Auby here, and not sent her home even when she wanted that more than anything. This thing, whatever the hell it really was, was the reason Daniel was dead.

_I know, Drew. _It said almost mockingly. I did not recall saying any of that out loud, but I took the fact that the mental voice seemed to work two ways in stride. _I did do all those things. And you're all stronger for it. _

"What about Daniel?" I asked out loud. I wanted the others to hear this conversation. Auby had to learn about what happened. Hazel needed to learn that the universe wasn't all perfection and loveliness. How she could not see it, I had no clue, but I wanted to help her.

_Daniel was weak. He didn't fit into the life I have chosen for you, _the thing said.

"No he wasn't!" YES. It was Hazel, finally speaking up. She and Daniel hadn't been close, per se, but they had understood each other on a deep level. And finally, that was showing. "How could you even say that?"

_He's the dead one, isn't he? _The damn thing had freaking sarcasm in it. Wonderful. _Daniel died because he made a stupid connection that he should have known was a mistake from the start. _

I didn't have time to analyze that, because Hazel jumped in again. "I should have died several times! When Auby threw me off the cliff-" It didn't matter that Auby was in the room. This was about Daniel.

_That was Auby. Auby was unpredictable for you. You couldn't have known. _I wanted to punch the thing.

"That's so unfair! Daniel wasn't any weaker than the rest of us here!" Auby surprised us all by speaking. Well, she had known him. Somehow. Yet another mystery to unravel.

_I don't know if that's true. That's why I'm here to offer you a choice. _Well, that surprised me. I had never seen the Universe or whatever it was actually called as the one to give us free choices.

"What's in this choice for you?" Hazel asked, reading it perfectly. Of course, there had to be something.

_What's in it for me? _I waited patiently, noting that the all powerful being I had always imagined was actually repeating my question.

Before and even after I met Drew, I never, ever did anything that didn't have something in it for me. Was that why we were so similar? Would I be more like her if I didn't have a Drew around to keep me in control? We had known each other since we were children and been best friends from the start. I had no idea what I would be without Drew.

*I sat on the edge of the bench, between Sam and the hard wood at the side of the view. My dad was cradling Isabel and Colin was next to him, practically on his lap as well. Sam was snuggled up next to him on the other side, with me on the far right. Sammy was holding my hand, but other than that I was outside the weepy mass of comfort my family had created.

The service lasted way too long, but after it was over I didn't remember a single word that was said. The Church filtered all the guests into a little room off to the side where there was juice and cookies laid out, as if that would help the fact that Anne C. Marin, mother to me, wife to my dad, and friend to just about everyone else here, was dead.

I ended up in some weird corner of the room, partially hidden behind a partition that was opened for bigger gatherings. It had taken several minutes to totally escape the condolences and cheek pinches and hair pets and hand squeezes that my dad and the younger kids were still being subjected to.

Only one person noticed me back there. He looked really different in a suit rather than denim shorts with his hair slicked down instead of its usual cowlicky, unbrushed state. Drew walked over to the corner I was standing in and handed me a sugar cookie- my favorite. Then he leaned against the wall next to me and didn't even try to start up a conversation. He was just there.*

_Well, what's in it for me is that I want to get to know you better, _the universe said, and I couldn't help but smile at the sarcastic tone she was putting inside my head. _I'm giving you this choice because I want to know what you'll decide. _

"Don't you know already?" Drew asked. "You chose us for this, didn't you? That's why we're all the same type of person. You can read our minds, so don't you know us pretty damn well?" Good point there.

_Of course I know you. I can control your mind, implant things in you, which you couldn't even imagine and have no defense against. _Well, this implanting thing wasn't news to me. It explained why I remembered the title, main character, and a basic summary of every single Lost episode from season one even though I hadn't seen it in years. But this revelation was clearly new to Drew, who looked shocked and almost scared. I could relate. There weren't many worse feelings than knowing that your mind was being tampered with. It had happened to me before, on the Teen Titans universe.

Teen Titans….that was back when things were easy. I could do whatever I wanted and be free to figure it out without thinking about the Universe hovering over me. It was so much nicer back then. Now, I knew every universe was a challenge, a test.

"Well, what's this choice, then?" I asked rather obnoxiously, honestly wanting to get it over with. There were too many mind games going on here, and I wanted to get to what I thought I knew better.

_It begins now, _she said, and as I was pulled into the abyss I could swear I heard her laughing.

TBC

Another Place, Another Time  
>(the AU &amp; the choice)<p>

I walked the rest of the way to Kate's house, cherishing the beautiful day. I knocked casually on the door, knowing that someone would be too close for me to bother with the doorbell, and sure enough, Daniel opened the door right away.

Daniel. Fanfiction Daniel, who I hadn't seen except in passing in days, since that conversation. For some weird reason, I was glad that I had worn my blue Converse instead of the black ones. They looked nicer with my outfit.

Not that I cared about that in front of _Daniel. _He was a sweet guy, but he was my best friend's (almost) brother. And it was cool that we had a lot in common, but he was a year older than me. We were still young enough for that to matter, especially since I was only a freshman, and then barely so.

I felt my cheeks begin to heat up. Where was this even coming from? "Do you know where Kate is?" I asked casually. She had asked me to come over around now so we could work on an English project.

"She went back to the middle school with Michael because he forgot some big project," Daniel answered. "They'll probably be back in a few minutes, though. And you're always welcome here." He smiled. _He's so cute when he smiles. _Best. Friend's. Brother…jeez. My split personalities were really having at it today.

"So what genre do you normally write?" I asked, probably surprising him but dying to know.

"Mostly some combination of action/adventure and humor. Sometimes heavier stuff, with characters I'm more comfortable with. You?"

"The same, I guess. Mild action. Sometimes, uh, preslash." The second part slipped out before I realized I was talking to a guy. A straight guy. _I hope he's straight…_

"Cool," he said. "And you said your friend writes, too? Who would that be?"

Rennie didn't keep this stuff a secret like I did. "Rennie Faustus," I replied quickly.

"Oh! I know Rennie from anime club in middle school." Daniel smiled again and I couldn't help but smile with him. Though normally rare, he was the sort of guy who could light up a room with his smile. "How's she doing?"

"Great," I said. "She has, what was it, I think seventy-four stories on her profile now."

"Wow. That makes me feel inferior. I thought twenty, fourteen of which are multichapter, was pretty good."

My turn to smirk. "That is good. I have nine, all multichapter. I like using actual plots."

"Yeah, but you have soccer and a social life and stuff. I'm sure you'd be caught up with Rennie if you were like us and sat in front of your computer all day."

"Heh. Sometimes that sounds like a great life," I said. Then Kate came in and stole me away from him to work on the project, but I was left with a warm feeling from our second real conversation.

High school was fun for a few months, then it was shit, then it got harder and shittier, and then it ended. It can't be entirely a coincidence that Hazel and I both ended up at Northwestern. She wanted to go to a large, respectable school and that drew her there, and since we'd been discussing colleges with each other since sixth grade, she ended up there. My parents were pushing Geneseo (the best SUNY school in the state), where they had met, but I knew that I didn't want to meet another girl. Hazel and I had been going out since our sophomore year, and we had been best friends for most of our lives. I didn't need to meet anyone at Geneseo.

So it was Northwestern. She majored in biochemistry and switched to a pre-med program junior year. Before, she had kept saying that she wanted to keep her options open, but she had always known what she wanted to do with her life. I majored in general engineering, and gradually developed an affinity for computer engineering, which had always been an interest of mine. Despite our vastly different and incredibly busy schedules, there were only a few semesters through all of college in which we weren't together in some class or another. Maybe that was fate.

Now, for the moment every forever couple remembers: I did it in a coffee shop. It was a cute but tiny place on campus where we had been coming for a few years to get our caffeine fix and talk. I invited her there one gorgeous spring evening (okay, not quite gorgeous. It was kind of raining outside) and we got coffees and she told me yet another amusing story about her kooky Biomedical Engineering I professor, and when the conversation hit a halt, I got down on one knee and proposed to her.

She didn't look surprised, only delighted. She let me put the ring on and then jumped up and hugged me, sealing it for real. The little Chinese girl working in the coffee shop, whose name badge read Kate, smiled at us.

"You look gorgeous, Alex," Ella gushed as I smoothed the front of my dress, admiring the feel of the silk under a coarse flowered pattern. I'm no Narcissus, but I could at least appreciate the beauty of the dress. After all, it was my wedding day.

"So do you," I replied. Over the last few years, Ella had shown me what it means to be a girl. Throughout most of my life, I'd been raised by a volatile alcoholic and my husband to be. I'd never had any real girlfriends before Ella had been forced on me by sharing a twenty by twenty foot room.

And Ella's bridesmaid's dress was gorgeous. It was a light purple-blue color with tiny designs of flowers etched onto the upper section, and fitted Ella's petite form snugly. The other bridesmaids were Isabel, my no longer so little sister, and Rennie, Drew's cousin who I had gotten closer to over the last few years, since she and her family lived pretty close to Northwestern. For some reason, they never mentioned her older sister Evelyn, who had lived with Drew's family for awhile one summer when Drew and I were about eight.

Rennie and Izzy walked in just then, and both fawned over my dress, Rennie a little more shyly. She looked different than usual, in the dress instead of her usual dark clothes, with her hair pulled out of her eyes by a matching purple headband. My entrouge and I looked beautiful, and it was the happiest day of my life.

"So who do you think would be on top, Gene or Phineas?" Rennie asked as we walked out of English together. Since I'd become friends with Daniel, I had made it my business to stop ignoring my best friends while we were in school.

"Rennie!" I hissed, still admittedly not used to her openness with the things we talked about at home or online. Then, remembering that I didn't care anymore, I replied "Gene."

Rennie wrinkled her nose. Wrong answer. "Why?"

"Well, he's the smarter one, so he has power over Phineas," I formulated.

"Not nearly as much power as Phineas has over him," Rennie pointed out. "Throughout the book, Gene is trying to prove that he's better than Finny. And if they're in a relationship during the book, that would indicate that Gene is the uke, beside the fact that Finny is the one to initiate everything.

I hated when Rennie was smarter than me, but I really didn't have an argument for that. "Well, if it was Gene/Finny, the ship name could be Ginny. Which is just awesome. You come up with a better one."

"Uh," Rennie started. "Finny/Gene…Finnene?"

"No way," I said, grinning at the knowledge that I had won this one battle.

"Hey Auby," someone said from behind me, and I was smiling before I even turned around. Daniel had on the guarded persona he always seemed to take on in school, but he looked happier than usual.

"Hi," I replied. Rennie turned toward a staircase to go to math, and Daniel and I walked down the next hallway to get to my global class and his art class, which were right across from each other. This was a daily routine, and one I loved.

"Are you doing anything tonight?" Daniel asked. I was a little surprised. We didn't really hang out much alone, he just tended to drop in on me and Kate more often now. He'd started watching Glee with us on Tuesdays.

"I've got practice, but that will be done by five," I replied. "Why?"

"Writers and Books is having a seminar for teenage writers tonight at seven, and since I know you're a writer, and I know a kid who dropped out, so they have an extra spot-"

"Sounds fun," I said, flashing a smile at how adorable he was when he rambled. And it did. I was still getting used to exposing that side of my life like this, being able to do things like this. So why not push the boundaries a little more? "Can I get a ride? My parents are going to be out tonight."

This wasn't true. There were still some people I needed to keep my life hidden from. I would tell them that I was just hanging out with Kate. Almost too easy.

"Sure. I blackmailed Chris into driving me, though, will your parents mind?" Daniel was only fifteen and couldn't drive yet, but his brother Chris was seventeen and sometimes carted Kate and me around.

"Not at all," I said. "So see you around six forty five?"

"Sounds good," he said, smiling slightly. I walked into global trying to suppress a smile of my own.

_So do you want to go out for coffee or something afterword? _Somehow, the most important words never made it past my lips. Auby knew I liked her- she had to.

Maybe I could ask her after, kind of spontaneously. "Hey, look at that coffee shop. Let's hit it while we wait for Chris to pick us up." Why did it have to be this hard? Did all proposals of dates require this much planning?

At least she had agreed to the seminar. But I had known she would. She was looking for ways to be her writer self and her person self at the same time, and this was a great opportunity. I thought Auby was special in a way I hadn't let myself feel about anyone in a long time.

She showed up right on time, with her hair braided down her back, still wet from a post-practice shower. She looked beautiful. "I brought a little money and a notebook and stuff, is there anything else I'll need?" she asked.

"Probably not. I've never been to one of these before, my online friend from NaNo told me that they were fun," I replied, closing the door behind her. The dilemma on whether to sit in front or back was easily resolved when I saw all the crap Chris had piled on the passenger seat of his beat up Toyota.

"Cool. This will be great," she said, and we smiled shyly at each other. I smiled more around Auby, I think. She was great like that.

"So, I was thinking," I said, while we sat in the semi-dark car as Chris searched for his keys. "There's a Starbucks right around the corner from the WAB building, want to hit that when it's over?"

"Sure," Auby responded enthusiastically. For the second time in fifteen seconds, I smiled.

We were twenty-two years old when we got married, Hazel barely so. We went to none other than Las Vegas for our honeymoon.

And it just shows what awesome people we are that we spent a day of our honeymoon at Comic-Con. I think we both exhausted our supply of jokes about how few couples do that on the bus ride there, but at the con we were both having too much fun.

We ended up in line for autographs next to another couple, about our age. Since we probably had half an hour of waiting ahead of us and the point of cons is to meet other people who go to cons, I introduced myself.

"I'm Drew, and this is my wife, Hazel." She smiled conspiratorially at me for using her nickname. Well, it was a con. We'd never see these people again, anyway.

"I'm Daniel, and this is my girlfriend Auby," the young man said amiably after turning around. He was Indian or Middle Eastern, but the girl he was with- Auby- was blonde. Neither of them looked like the typical fat, ugly person who attended these things, but neither did Hazel and I and we often considered ourselves to be the biggest nerds of all.

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" I asked. I felt a sort of comradeship with both of them that wasn't normal for total strangers.

"I don't know," Auby replied, and I knew I had heard that voice before, but whatever. These random people didn't matter. Why was I talking to them anyway?

_And, stop. _

I woke up.

Back on the plane, with Hazel and Auby beside me. What?

_That is the choice, _it said. _You can live the life I've given you, or you can live that one. _

"What's the catch?" Hazel asked immediately. She knew that nothing could mess around with destiny like that.

Destiny…it was a funny word. Especially when we were in the midst of being given an opportunity to choose it on our own.

_I have shown you everything, _the Universe replied cryptically, and I, just as cynical as Hazel, searched back through the false memories I had, and immediately felt what was wrong.

_So you have sensed it, _the Universe said, and I knew that it was talking only to me. _That is who you would be, Drew._

All the memories, all the things I had thought, all the things I had seen, it was tainted. By me. The persona living my life in that AU was an egotistical jerk who never even began to care about anyone but himself and Hazel. I thought I had progressed far beyond that. Was that what it was about? Turning us into terrible people for that life?

And I've lost  
>Who I am<br>And I can't  
>Understand<p>

I don't know where the words came from. I think I'd heard Auby singing that song in the shower once, and the lyrics sounded familiar. But it hit home.

That egotistical jackass was who I would be if I didn't have this life. Who I had been, and who I would become. I could live out the rest of my life never knowing when some scary, crazy thing would uproot me and toss me somewhere else, or I could be him.

A catch-22. This hell, or that one?

Why my heart  
>Is so broken<br>Rejecting your  
>Love without<br>Love gone wrong 

That was the catch, then.

In the AU, Drew and I were married and lived happily ever after, or at least until we were twenty-two. From then on, I didn't know.

The one thing I did know was that there, I didn't really love him. I didn't love him like I loved him now. Here, our love was that of two people who had lost each other and found each other again, the desperate and perhaps even tragic love of two people constantly being torn apart. There, it was a normal deep friendship between two people.

I couldn't give up this Drew, this love, just for the possibility of a stable, healthy life together. I had never wanted that. I knew I would spend the rest of that life pining for something more like this one. The logic agreed with my heart. I had to stay.

I almost said yes right off. The life was perfect for me. In ninth grade, I lost my identity issues in a safe, comfortable way, and I learned to be myself, slowly. So different than how it had happened here, in one scary jump that had almost made me lose my mind.

Daniel was my life partner. Here, that could never be.

Daniel.

I felt like I knew him, the real him, from all those years we'd been together on that universe. He had been mine, and we would live out splendid lives together.

But…on that universe, I wished for one thing more. Adventure, fun. Things that Daniel couldn't give me, that weren't possible. I would wish for something like this life, not knowing how much I would hate it.

Here, I could mourn Daniel and the life we could have had. There, I would never be able to appreciate what I would feel like when he was gone, and what he truly meant to me.

Lifeless words  
>Carry on<br>But I know  
>All I know<br>Is that the end's beginning

There, I could never be who I had become. All this universe stuff has scarred me. I've killed people. I've tried to kill people. I'd nearly tried to kill myself, and destroy universes, everything to get back home. I'll never be anything like who I would have been there, with this life.

It wasn't going home. It wouldn't be me. The person I had become wouldn't exist.

I couldn't mourn Daniel like what was meant to be.

I would know for the rest of my life that I'd made the wrong choice. There, I wouldn't even know I had chosen. This decision would either haunt me forever or not at all. It was uncontestable, right?

This was either the beginning of my happiness, or the beginning of the end.

Who I am  
>From the start<br>Take me home  
>To my heart<p>

I had always thought of the Whoniverse as a new beginning to my life, a chance to restart, to make things right with myself. And I'd changed here, Hazel and I both. Until know, I hadn't known how much.

I didn't want to put that sick person who was me into any universe. He would think badly of his neighbors and even his friends. He was the mildest form of monster.

That was who I was. That was who I was meant to be. Wasn't it?

There, I could be with Hazel, happy, forever. Here, I could be a good person. Was it worth it? I loved her both ways. But she wasn't everything. As much as I liked to think that, I was involved in this too.

In that mindset, I couldn't possibly go do that to that AU. But Hazel and me, in the AU, together forever…it was a dream come true, or it would forever be a dream of this world.

This choice was impossible. What kind of sick monster would even make us do this?

It was in the middle of these dark thoughts that Hazel finally spoke. "I choose the universes."

"I choose the universes."

Heavy words, but spoken straight from my heart. I belonged here. I knew that I always would. Even without knowing it existed, I would always miss it. At the beginning I had welcomed it, and heartbreak, tragedy, and all sorts of other things later, I was ready for more.

Let me go  
>And I will run<br>I will not be silent

All this time  
>Spent in vain<br>Wasted years  
>Wasted game<p>

It would all be for nothing, if I chose the better life. All the pain I had been through since coming here, it never would have happened. If I hadn't been through it all, I would leap at the chance to get rid of it. It was funny, though, I wanted to carry that baggage. I wanted to have some reminder of the things I had gone through, the wrongs I had committed. I didn't want it all to go to waste.

But, if I was there it wouldn't matter. I would never know. I would never be here. I would never be able to torture myself with this. I would live life as I had always wanted to.

All that time that would go to waste…I would either be proud and in pain forever, or not even remember. I didn't want it to go to waste, but I knew I didn't need these memories. I don't care if they defined who I was now. Who I would be then was the better person, anyway.

Because she could never be me, never know who I was.

All is lost  
>Hope remains<br>And this war's not over

I knew I would regret the decision the instant I made it. Now, I could never live even a single second of that near perfect life with Drew. I could never marry him, or rake leaves with him outside our suburban house with our daughter scattering them all around, I could never have him as I had him here.

But here, I could always hope for him. I knew that he would always return to me, after some amount of time. We had an indefinite amount of things in common. We would always find a middle ground. We were bound in so many more ways here.

The fight to have him, the struggle to save places, would never be over. I would never really have a home to go to, and I wouldn't know how to get there anyway. This life was terrible and frightening and a set up for tragedy and heartbreak. But somehow, it was better.

This life would never be perfect. The person I was on either place would never be perfect. But here, I was wiser. Here, I had a wiser Hazel to guide me. I could make do.

There's a light  
>There's a sun<p>

Somehow, it would all work out. This life was crazy, but it had its highs and lows. That life was all happy, but that was because I didn't even really understand life. It was too perfect. What kind of life was that? I knew that I, well, the me I was now, sure as hell wanted it, but I knew that it was to perfect to really be. I didn't want to live in a fantasyland, I wanted to live somewhere with real sorrow and reason. I wanted to live. Maybe I would be more damaged, and a better person because of it, but this was the better way.

Taking on  
>Shattered ones<br>To the place  
>We belong<p>

"I choose here."

Hazel smiled at me. We could do this, together.

And this love will conquer all

Hazel and Drew had chosen. If I chose the universes, I would be a perpetual third wheel. Yet another reason to choose the other life.

But, it seemed almost too easy. Too much like cheating.

Here, Daniel was dead. He was meant to be dead and we would all mourn him forever. Here, I was damaged. This life would be sad, and lonely, and terrible.

"I want the universes, too."

Yesterday I died  
>Tomorrow's bleeding<p>

Fall into your sunlight.

_Good. _

End Part 3

The Horror of the Truth  
>(aka, my personal nightmare)<p>

_It will be different now. Your presence everywhere is beginning to take effect. You will see things you could never have imagined. You started with the familiar, what you held most dear. Now you will be challenged. You won't be able to understand on sight. I can help you, but don't come to expect it. But remember- you do not have to change anything. If you want, you can change everything. It's your decision. But for the sake of everything and everyone everywhere, try to do it right. _

It probably wasn't a coincidence that I remembered every word of that speech. The thing had probably branded it into all of our heads.

It was a hell of a motivator, actually. For sure I knew which path I would be taking on this universe.

I stood up and looked around at post-apocalyptic Japan. _Post apocalyptic Japan? _ I didn't think I would ever get used to the thing putting thoughts in our heads.

"You know, if you don't want us to get all dependent on you, you shouldn't give us easy answers like that," I muttered. Praying to the thing now, was I? Had it told me to do that?

I started walking down the street, wondering exactly what universe I was in. Based on how it had gone before the warning, I was somewhere only slightly less familiar than the places I had been already. I probably knew this place somehow.

I knew when I saw the little blonde guy wearing red plaid and weird boots walking across the street in front of me. I had liked that kid. He was cool.

I remembered giggling over this manga with Hazel one day after school when Evelyn was staying with us. I remembered both of us being completely horrified by another in the box she kept in the closet and putting them away in a haste in favor of writing Yeiverica.

I was in one of Evelyn's yaoi mangas.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I said, only this time it was clearly not a prayer.

Having nowhere else to go, I followed Rin. I wasn't sure if I actually remembered his name from the manga or it was the thing that had put it inside my head. I couldn't quite remember his back story, though, so I took that as a sign of my own fallible memory at work.

Rin slipped into a building, and I followed him. I remembered enough about this manga to know that he would probably kill me if it wasn't one of those safe haven things, but what else was I to do? If I remembered correctly, this was a pretty insane universe. There were the two creeps who went around killing people as their job, and everyone else went around killing people as part of a game. And then there was that other guy who went around killing people just for the heck of it. I was going to need a gun. Or a friend. Or _something _to survive this universe.

My instinct in following Rin inside proved true. This bar, though dingy and dimly lit, was a drastic change from the cold silence and deadness of the street. Music was playing, a few people were drinking or just sitting at the bar, others were sleeping, and I saw a drug deal going on in a shadowed corner. And I wouldn't be surprised if this was the nicest place in the town.

I walked in a slightly different direction from Rin on the way in the door and watched Rin skip over to Motomi.

_Motomi- here to get information on and assassinate Keisuke Akira Nano and the likes not really a member of Igura carries a gun around but is generally kind of a pacifist good friends with Rin writes the black market newspaper thingy that exposes what goes on in Toshima gets a pretty good ending in most routes…_

My knee hit the floor painfully, bringing me back to reality. I removed my hands from my head tentatively, blinking a few times to process what had just happened in the real world while the universe had been yelling in my ear.

It was the same voice that had narrated the AU and given me that awful, painful, impossible choice. The voice that I hated. I had thought that our interaction would at least be limited to her whispering tiny things into my mind, but this was different. This was a genuine information dump and I was still trying to work through it.

Hazel would be grateful for the help, I knew. But I wasn't. I was totally fine with the thing forming a personal relationship with Hazel, but I didn't want it anywhere near me.

"Are you all right?" a deep voice inquired, putting a hand under my arm to steady me. I stood up, my face growing warm.

The deep voice belonged to Motomi, _here to get information on and assassinate Keisuke Akira Nano and the likes not really a member of Igura carries a gun around but is generally kind of a pacifist good friends with Rin_. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry," I said.

Motomi handed me a water bottle. "On the house, kid. Haven't seen you around here before."

Nodding in thanks, I took a sip from the water bottle. "I haven't been around here before," I replied. _Why the fuck didn't I think of a back story in the first place?_

"We should go back over to the table or someone's going to steal our stuff," pointed out Rin. When I'd actually been reading Togainu No Chi, he was probably taller than I was. I knew he was around sixteen, close to my age now, but he was several inches shorter.

"Very true," Motomi agreed, motioning for me to follow them. "I got you a drink, you owe me a story," he said cheerfully.

I sat down in the booth beside Rin and across from Motomi. I was still in the weird state somewhere between high and lag that came with a universe transfer, and my mind still seemed to be configuring itself to the thing's intentions (not that I was thinking about that) but the water helped.

"I'm Motomi, and this here is Rin," Motomi said. I looked at each of them, trying to pretend I hadn't known that for years.

"I'm Drew," I said without prompting. For a split second I wondered if I should use something more Japanese-sounding, but decided not to bother. I'd been Drew in Naruto, I could be Drew here.

Even though the only reason I'd gone by Drew in Naruto was that no pseudonym I could think of would have sounded right next to Hazel.

"So what are you doing in Toshima, Drew?" Motomi asked. "You don't see very many people around here without tags."

My hand immediately went to my neck to confirm what Motomi was saying, that I didn't have one of the metal dog tags people here would die for. I only found the lanyard I'd been wearing since Yeiverica.

"You're not wearing tags," I accused, feigning ignorance to buy myself more time. Why would a fifteen year old kid be in the Togainu no Chi universe without tags?

_Kid. _There was my answer. At least, I hoped it was my own, personally thought of answer.

"I'm an investigator, but I'm also an adult," Motomi said.

"We can tell, old man," Rin joked, and I smiled a little.

Time to hatch my newly contrived back story. "My father joined Igura a year ago when my mom's dad threatened to- I don't exactly know. Everyone refused to tell me. But the rest of my family is dead now, and I have nowhere to go. We never got a death notice or anything for him, so I was wondering…" I cleared my throat, like this was a difficult story to tell.

"This place isn't nearly civilized enough for something like death notices, kid. I'm sorry, but your dad's probably long gone."

"Probably. But he was always strong and good with a knife. He competed in Blster until he was almost thirty," I made up. Rin had competed in Blster. So had Akira, and the weird guy with the blue hair whose name I couldn't quite remember.

Akira and Keisuke walked into the bar. I know that sounds like the start of a lame joke, but hey, that's how it happened. "Hi, Motomi! Hi, Rin!" Keisuke said enthusiastically. I made as though to stand up and slip out, but Rin grabbed my hand and gave a winning smile.

"This is Drew," Rin said, not letting go of my hand until I had sat down again. "Drew, this is Keisuke and

I braced myself for another one of those information dumps, but there was nothing for these two except my own scarred memory. "Hi," I said confidently. If there was a number one on the Things Not to Do in This Universe rule book, it would be don't make yourself out to be a uke.

It's strange that I even knew what that term was. Damn that box of Evelyn's. What the hell was I even doing in this universe?

"So what's up?" asked Rin cheerfully. I almost wanted to leave again.

"Akira found a tag that someone had dropped on the street," Keisuke said. Akira held it up- ace of diamonds.

"A good one, too," Motomi said, making to examine it. "Real, as far as I can tell."

"Who would just leave a tag lying around like that?" I asked.

"Someone fleeing," Motomi said simply. "Maybe he was being targeted by a pack and just wanted to escape."

"Someone would give up their chance at winning just to throw their enemies off of them?" I asked. This sure was one fucked-up universe.

"Some would. Some would rather die than lose this tag," Akira stated, and I'm pretty sure it was the first he'd said the entire encounter. Wasn't he supposed to be the main character?

"Some people aren't just here to win the tournament," Motomi said. "Like, I suppose, your dad."

I nodded, wondering how long I was going to bother keeping up with the dad story. My real dad on my home universe, I would never chase to Toshima no matter what. Hazel and I would have survived an apocalypse together.

"Is that one of the tags you really need, Akira?" Rin asked. So apparently Akira was close to winning, or whatever, though I couldn't remember it happening in the manga.

"No. One of those that I need I haven't even seen yet," Akira replied.

"That's because it's a really high-level tag. People don't wear it around their necks, they leave it in their hideouts," Rin supplied. "You need to get the location out of them."

Jeez, this was one sadistic universe. I couldn't even tell what I was supposed to do besides hang out with the main characters. I didn't know the ending- actually, I knew that it was originally a video game and thus could have one of any number of endings.

Then, the person I expected I would never see again walked into the bar.

_What the fuck are you doing here, Evelyn?_

She sensed Drew the instant she arrived on the universe. This epitome of me had my intelligence, my voice, and most of my power. She was my favorite face, the one I had happened to use with all of them. Drew was being insolent, so she was the one I was sending to wreak havoc on Drew's mind.

Evelyn walked into the building Drew's signature was coming from, and I felt Drew's heartbeat rise. He remembered her. He knew she was important. Pity I had to break a mind so quick and creative. But he had to trust me. This would never work, if he didn't trust me.

"'Scuse me a minute," I said casually, making sure my hand was out of Rin's reach this time. Pulling away would have been too dang awkward for me.

I walked away from the booth I was at toward the center of the bar. "Hello?" I asked Evelyn from behind, to make sure I was seeing straight. Was this the Evelyn from my universe, the one who had stayed with my family that summer when I was nine for some reason or another?

"Hello, Drew," she said, and I took a step back. This wasn't Evelyn, couldn't be. That voice, that awful, mocking voice, was reverberating from her.

*"Hey Drew, I've found one that I think you'll like," Evelyn said, smiling at me and holding out a manga book. I looked up. Evelyn had been far taller than me then, far wiser, far better.

She knew what I liked. She didn't know that Hazel and I had rooted through the box under her bed for her heavier ones, but still. "Thanks," I said, flipping over her copy of Full Metal Alchemist to read the back cover. Evelyn smiled and walked back to her room.*

That voice. That thing, and Evelyn. It was the same voice. It always had been.

"What are you doing here? Why do you look like Evelyn?" I asked.

"Because I am Evelyn," she replied, now turning to face me. She was shorter than me now by several inches, but the eyes that looked up at me now were the same as the eyes that had looked down on me all those years ago.

Evelyn snapped her fingers, and time froze. I didn't even have time to react to this. "Your friends over there were getting worried," she said.

"Get out of my head. Get out of my life," I said scathingly, still unwilling to believe that Evelyn, my childhood role model, could be all this.

The Togainu No Chi boys were all at a standstill from Evelyn's time magic. Akira looked bored, Keisuke looked worried, and Rin was talking to Motomi, who was glancing over at me and Evelyn.

"I can never get out of your head. I am a part of your memory, engrained in a part of you even I cannot touch," Ev- that _thing _said to me.

She was right. My memories of Evelyn- my true memories at all- had never been distorted by the universe's bidding. She could make me her puppet, but she could never rid me of myself, my past. I would be glad of that twist if she hadn't found a way to insert herself into it.

"My name isn't really Evelyn, it's just a name I saw when I was being created and decided I liked. I am a human branch of the Universe, sent to find people like you and use you," she continued.

"Can't the Universe just do that herself?" I asked. Then, I did something from my WWHD list. I walked right out of the bar. I was done with this conversation, hopefully done with this stupid universe.

Amazingly, it was the right move. Time sped up again, I could tell by the breeze moving trash across the sidewalks and the people walking past the street I was on. I smiled and then got the heck out of that area. Even murderous, dangerous Toshima was better than a confrontation with the Evelynverse. Unilyn. Something like that. Hazel had always been keen on nicknaming ships and things, and I had already decided that I was going to asking myself "what would Hazel do?" a lot this go- round.

I walked along, trying and probably failing to look tough, and getting as far away from the bar as possible. There were other safe havens in Toshima; I knew, nicer ones, even. I would figure it out. Eventually, I would get transferred again and this particular nightmare would be over.

I was trying to think optimistically, but that all ended when I turned a corner and came face to face with Shiki.

Remember the guy I happened to mention, the one who goes around killing people just for the heck of it? That's Shiki. I had always been kind of fascinated by Shiki's character, but now, there was no time to analyze his psyche.

"Who are you?" he asked.

I gulped, knowing that almost any answer would be wrong, especially a late one. "I- I'm, uh, My name is Drew," I finally said confidently, answering his surface question. I knew it wasn't what he was looking for, though.

Shiki started playing with his sword, and I tried to pretend my heart wasn't hammering. I could die. Here. Now. In this shit- ass universe I didn't even want to be in, just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. "You're not wearing any tags, young Drew," he said almost _provocatively _and I couldn't help but think of Hazel telling me about all that had happened to Akira in Shiki's ending. The guy was a freaking sadist, and I had to be scared. No! I had to not be. That was his pull. He didn't kill Akira all those times because Akira _wasn't scared of him. _I had to pull it off, my life depended on it. Literally.

"I don't see any tags on you," I replied coolly, standing up straight and looking at him directly. "Who are you?"

Shiki didn't look offended, at first. He actually looked more disdainful. Like, what a pity that he was about to kill me. "I'm surprised you don't know who I am," he said.

_When something sparks his interest, he takes it. When something irritates him, he destroys it._ I remembered reading. Was this really from Hazel's analysis or whatever? Or was it Evelyn, from inside me?

Right now, I barely cared. It was enough of a fragment for me to use. What would Hazel do? Heck, I had _seen _Hazel do this. "Of course I know who you are. Il-Re. Shiki. You're completely obsessed with killing some guy named Nano. You kill pretty much everyone who annoys you. There's a little guy named Rin after you on some revenge kick. You're feared and hated by everyone in this city except some guy named Akira who totally fascinates you. You-"

I didn't have time to finish. I guess I annoyed him.

(Now wasn't that dramatic?). Shiki didn't get to kill me, though I'm sure he would have enjoyed it. Time stopped when the long, thin sword was an inch away from my throat.

Since any sane person would take advantage of this situation, I did. I stepped away from the wall Shiki had aphysically pushed me against and turned to walk far, far away from this scene, since I was sure Shiki would want to kill me all over again when he stuck his precious katana into a wall because of me. The poor thing might even get scratched. Oh, dear.

I turned a corner, back toward the bar. Evelyn could follow me anywhere, I knew. So it would probably be best to stay somewhere safe. Even is Evelyn _was _going to be saving my life all the time.

I turned right and came face to face with Daniel.

Evelyn's anger was tangible to me, and instead of letting her go to remedy things with Drew, I pulled her back up, unstopping time down on the universe. Drew was difficult. I could just control his mind, but having to do that all the time was stressful, strenuous, and annoying, and it was so much easier just to let them make the right decisions themselves, with a little guidance.

In all honesty, I had never been sure about Drew. For this, there was no desinty, no chosen ones, just the ones I saw had the right combination of strength, optimism, and spirit to do the impossible job I was assigning them. Hazel drew me in right away, and I could scarcely look at her without looking at Drew. I suppose that was my mistake- I never really looked at Drew, just assumed that the two of them came in a package. And they did, and it worked, until I made the mistake of splitting them up. And now, I needed to send my newest enigma to correct my mistake.

Daniel Adams, dead by his third universe. To me, the intrigue of Daniel had always been his strength. I had never thought he would be fooled by a deceptive friendship and a kiss, because it was ultimately his loneliness that did him in. If I had started him and Auby together, would they work as Drew and Hazel managed to? I had torn Hazel and Drew apart, would they have done as Auby and Daniel did? I could stop time, work magic in every which way, but I couldn't change time. And thus I couldn't change my mistakes, I just had to fix them.

Even if what I had to do was cruel.

I watched Daniel Adam's form with my voice step out to greet Drew.

Daniel. Really Daniel? Of course not. This was another one of the universe's stupid cheap tricks, like what it had done to Auby. This wasn't real; none of this was real.

"Drew," said Daniel, and I had to turn back around and look at him again, because it was really Daniel's voice, not Evelyn's or some other embodiment of the universe- no.

"You're not Daniel," I said, making my tone as cold and emotionless as possible. Heck, Daniel had pretty much taught me that. "Stop playing with me." That was another WWHD line. Geez, I had to stop following that system.

"I am Daniel," he said, but this time it was easier to ignore because of the voice- _its _voice. That weird, inhuman quality to it, the strange likeness to Sai's dub voice even on this universe- it wasn't Daniel. It never would be.

"This is who I've always been," _it _said to me through Daniel's mouth, moving Daniel's hands. "This is who you will become, once I decide you should be killed."

"Did you decide that Daniel had to be killed? Just so you could use him on me?" my voice was gradually rising in fury.

"Of course not. That's incredibly vain of you," the universe said, and Daniel's body had the almost aristocratic expression he took to seal himself off. It was so like Daniel I almost punched it in the face. "Daniel died by his own stupidity."

"Daniel was at least as smart as me or Hazel. Or Auby. Maybe smarter. He didn't deserve to die first!"

"Daniela died because he didn't accept what I could do for him, what I was giving him the chance to do. He made choices. It's not my fault they were the wrong choices," the universe said smoothly, having pretty much given up the impersonating Daniel bit. "Would you rather it have been you?" Now Daniel was smirking, and expression I had loved seeing on him and h ad become more frequent later on. I had to turn away.

"You could have saved his life. You didn't. He died. It's your fault, not his, not anyone else's," I said, my voice cold as ice. Then I made myself walk away. Again.

Worst. Decision. Of. My. Life.

I had barely turned around when suddenly Daniel's hand was on my shoulder. It barely had time to dawn on me that Daniel would pretty much never initiate physical contact when I ceased to have the ability to form coherent thoughts.

The fall was immediate, shocking, and worse even that a universe transfer. It was red, all red, swimming in front of my eyes. Swirls of bright, almost fluorescent, sickening red. Too much red. My head was whirling as though on a fifty foot round track, going seventy miles an hour. The red was blood. The red was changing. In the red there were patches, dots of night black, only it was blacker than night because somehow in this reality, that was possible. Colors and colors that couldn't be joined the dancing black in the still predominant red, and then it was images.

That was the worst part.

Hazel. Lifeless. Eyes closed, Shiki's blade at her already slashed throat. I reached for her, reached so hard, but it was just out of reach and stayed there. I couldn't save her. Her still, pale form on the ground- too far. Too far gone. I had to reach her!

And then the image was gone, lost in the dizzying patterns of red, bright, stifling, bloody red, lost to the black too dark for midnight and the colors that weren't real. I saw other images. Never close enough to touch. I tried closing my eyes. I couldn't. I couldn't breathe, but I didn't need to. Couldn't move. Had to watch.

Auby. Not just an image, but a replay. Throwing herself off a cliff, tears streaming down her face, until she hits the ground below. Again. Again. Again. I couldn't help her. I couldn't save her from herself. I couldn't-

And she was gone just as quickly, and I back in the nauseating vortex of blood and now it was all blending together, the colors and the not-colors and all the red and the dark and the nothing. It all became one, with I simply floating inside.

One more image came to me, clear as day. As the world faded into red around it, Daniel gazed at me. Alive. Really alive, I could feel it. Not that cruel thing that I had alst seen him as.

There was almost music. I looked at Daniel- no choice, remember? He spoke. "Hey, Drew," and it was his voice, his real voice, the one I had become so used to and turned around to and listened to. It was really Daniel.

_Hey, _I thought back, unable to speak, but knowing that whatever needed to hear me could.

"It's not your fault," he said, and there were no better words. _Not my fault. _"You and Hazel aren't to blame. I don't blame you, so stop blaming yourselves."

_Thank you, _I thought, staring voluntarily at him, knowing that I probably wouldn't be seeing him much longer.

"I am with the universe now. A part of her. A tool of her. I am more at peace than I have ever been," Daniel continued calmly. "She is a part of me even more than she is a part of you. I can see her, really see her. I can speak to her. She can use me, use my body to do good. Even better than she can use you to do good. It's a privilege to be chosen."

_No. NO! _I thought in anguish, because this was Daniel's voice but it wasn't Daniel anymore, it couldn't possibly be! It wasn't him, he was too strong, too independent, he would never resort to that.

"This is the world. You are nothing in this vortex, and I am everything. I control what you see, what you feel, what you do."

"Then do it!" I yelled, surprised that I could even speak. "Take me! If you can, why don't you? I'm all yours; why bother convincing me?" If I had a real body here, I was sure I would be crying.

All at once, in a split second fluid metamorphosis, Daniel became Evelyn. "Because I chose you for a reason. You don't need me. You can do things, fix things, without my help."

"Then stop helping me!" I cried out, almost feeling phantom limbs returning to me. But soon they were lost in the red and the colors and the swirls and the night darkness and the images and the blood.

"I can't. You would be dead several times over," Evelyn said, and she _smirked. _How could someone be so naive as to smirk about death? How could Evelyn, the idol of my childhood, be all this?

"Daniel's dead!" I replied, feeling my phantom voice beginning to grow hoarse from all the yelling. "Why do I get special preference? It's not fair!"

My last words, _it's not fair _reverberated across the whole space, swallowing me, organizing the red, distorting Evelyn's image in front of me.

But all of a sudden, it returned. Everything. Only darker, as though tinted with an extra shade of grey. "I don't have to be fair," Evelyn said, colder than I'd ever heard her voice. "I can decide to kill you right now."

"Oh yeah? Do it! I DARE YOU," I screamed, my voice almost breaking on the last part. I don't even know if I was bluffing. All I knew was that anything would be better than here, anything would be better than this…hell. Yes, hell was exactly what it was. The Universe controlled her own hell.

Evelyn giggled in clear contrast to the silence and hardness and coldness of a moment ago, and I absurdly began to think that the universe was freaking bipolar. "Because you're interesting. You're defiant. Why would I want to kill you?"

"Why did you want to kill Daniel?" I retorted.

"I didn't kill Daniel. Sasuke killed Daniel. I hardly had to make a conscious decision not to save him. Daniel is much more useful to me here. You actually make a good field pawn. You are _lucky _that I keep you around," Evelyn said spitefully.

I almost cried out that we weren't just her pawns, then realized that it wasn't true. We were, we all were. Hazel willingly, me unwillingly, Auby rebelliously, Daniel hardly caring at all. That was all we really were, what we'd always been. From the start, from Hazel and I and the rock and roll time we'd had on the Whoniverse, we'd been working for her. "Why are you doing this to me?" I asked quietly, tired of exhausting my surreal voice in the wind of the vortex. She could hear my thoughts. Hell, she could be my thoughts.

"Because you needed a lesson taught," she replied, speaking quietly but in a way that still allowed me to hear her voice.

"A lesson?" I asked rather mockingly, and I didn't get a response in words but in a strange mix of images and pure, uncontaminated knowledge. I was her pawn. She was my master. She could control me. She could save my life or kill me off or take me away whenever she wanted.

She was the universe, and I had to obey her. Had to be her pawn. Had to love her.

The last one did it. I made up my mind. No matter what she did to me, I was stronger. Daniel had been strong, and she hated him for it. Maybe she would always hate me for this. I would have to watch my back every single second for what I was about to do.

But it was all worth it for how good it felt to take Shiki's frozen sword from his grip and bury it in Evelyn's chest.

Her expression, _finally _fear, fear of me, was worth it. It was freeing. I, Drew, had done this. Not some slob trying to live with Hazel's morals and Daniel's memory. I was Drew, and I was strong enough, brave enough, to do this to her.

The fear quickly evaporated, and somehow, even through the incredible amounts of blood she was losing, was that god-awful smirk, come to mock me, ingrained in my memory forever.

"I'll always be with you. Remember that. I'm not that easy to get rid of," She said, her voice raspy from what I had done to her. Blood was coming in gratuitous amounts, the same red as the hell. I watched her fall.

I didn't shed a tear. I don't think I made an expression. I walked right past my fallen, broken former friend and farther into the city. I had some surviving to get to.

End Part 5

So there we were. Stuck in limbo forever, with Daniel's memory and our own memories to carry with us always. Instead of destroying ourselves in one blow like the universe had given us a chance to, we chose to destroy ourselves slowly, from the inside out.

Daniel was dead. At the beginning he'd been scared, then he'd grown truly strong, and then he was gone. We all knew he was alive, somehow, on the other world with our false selves. None of us drew comfort from that.

Auby just kept going. She'd started as a hostile, become one of us, and now she had the pain of losing Daniel deep in her heart to keep her going. She hated it, and she always would. But somehow, she would make it through.

Hazel had always been the one who would never, ever give up. She was determined and strong enough to justify it. She had her doubts, but always overcame them. She tried so hard to make herself love it here, and she succeeded. She was the one who could maybe one day be close to happy.

Drew had been the optimistic one, the one who always retained hope. For so long, he hadn't let anything destroy that. But somewhere along the way, that broke. Drew would be different now, and that difference would define everything.

So there we are. The beauty and the tragedy of their chronicle laid bare, their story set to continue forever.

There is a hope beyond this night  
>There is a savior in the sky<br>Giving his life to set this  
>World on fire<br>So as the darkness closes in  
>Know that the sun will shine again<br>Bringing salvation to this  
>World on fire<p>

The savior, the fire, the hope, and the night, all in one, they would travel forever.

END


	3. Wanderers

PART I

In the beginning

_Before…_

_Once, there was a group of teenagers gaily moving through universe after familiar universe, meeting each other and forming friendships. They had their hard times and their triumphs, their near misses and full misses, and lived in a scattered collection of moments. _

_Once upon a time, Hazel and Drew were freshmen in high school, best friends, two geeks of a kind. A misplaced curiosity, a single bad decision later, their old lives were a distant memory of a different world._

_For awhile, they tried to get home. Gradually, they stopped as they learned that they needed only each other. One instance taught them that they needed both each other and the adventure this unbalanced, root-free life brought. Then things turned dark, dangerous, and terrifying, but that's important enough to make sense later. _

_Somewhere in that story, Auby and Daniel enter. They live the same lives, with varying degrees of success. _

_Until everything seemed to go wrong at once, and their carefree existence ended abruptly. They thought that it was all because of Evelyn Novak. Maybe it was. Maybe Evelyn was just as tiny a player as them._

_But this is a story of small players in big situations, and finding impossible decisions to make. In this story, the iota, the small players in a big universe, change the world._

_And maybe one could argue that that's the way it's always been. But now, the stakes are so much deeper. _

_This is the beginning of their story, because one must always start at the beginning to get to the end. Looking back, Hazel and Drew quaintly frolicking around the Whoniverse and Daniel's tentative explorations of several anime worlds are only real on the surface. From all that they didn't know back then, and all that they would unfortunately soon learn. _

_This starts at the beginning, and skips the happy middle. These four children are not even a part of the larger story, depending on perspective. Hazel's silly ideas and nicknames are things of the past, as their story journeys several levels below the surface. _

_This is a story of teenage heroes and teenage villains; of teenage adults and teenage children. _

_It is possible that some people don't even know what their own minds are capable of. It's about to be proven, through these seven surface people of a deeper, darker story than any of them are capable of producing. _

_It starts with Evelyn, because everything began with Evelyn, didn't it? Evelyn is the surface of the second level, just as the other children are the first. _

_But then, maybe it all began with Rennie. _

_And maybe it all began with Auby. _

_And depending on what reality you choose, perhaps it all began with Tobias or Daniel. _

_This used to be the story of lost souls and their keepers. Now, imagine the keepers being lost souls themselves. _

_Now imagine pure evil. Pure, concentrated, inescapable evil. Pure evil, and the people trapped in it. _

_That's where the story begins. _

_Wanderers_

Evelyn

It was cold here, and so dark that the word seemed to have lost all meaning. I couldn't feel myself in any way, no phantom limbs or a phantom ground to stand on. I merely _existed, _in some impossible way with thoughts and emotions that should have made my throat seize up or my eyes tear, but instead simply overwhelmed my entire being.

There was no time here. There was no anything. I was alone, and dark and cold and senseless, for what seemed like forever.

Then, I learned to reach.

I was almost experimenting, I think. Pushing the boundaries that I had probably somehow set for myself. Maybe I was checking if this boundless black cage really was its very own state of existence. I don't know if those are true, because I forgot those thoughts the moment the ray of light broke through.

It was a miniscule thing, the first light, but it was overwhelming and warm and all that I needed. For a single second.

Then, I wanted more.

I tried to reach out, to _him _first but I had no way of finding him, so I just widened the crack. It was difficult going. Touching the outer wall of my prison seared something inside of me, and though I felt no sensation and no pain, I could tell that it scarred something inside of me.

But it was better than the alternative. I became more convinced of this every day.

The crack was about the size of a human finger (if I could even still judge that right) when more than light started coming through. Sometimes it was a color. Sometimes, the color became a feeling. A lingering thought. Anything new and different, I craved.

Inspired, I kept digging.

Auby

"So, what's your favorite superhero ship?" Rennie asked. The scene in her room was so typical of us. Both our parents had been given some thin excuse of "studying" but in reality Rennie was on her computer browsing tumblr and I was sitting cross-legged on her bed, absentmindedly sketching a copy of a manga cover in front of me.

"What?" I asked, because I really didn't have a clue what she was talking about. It worked well enough that way, or at least it had for all these years.

"Superheroes," Rennie restated. "You can't tell me you've never thought about it. I mean, just _look_at X-Men. There are canonized slash ships!"

I continued sketching, deciding to let her continue on her own.

"Erik and Charles, for one. Confirmed at the last comic-con. Wait a minute, did you even see First Class?"

"No, I was busy that day," I replied ambiguously. To be honest, I wasn't the hugest fan of Rennie's current superhero craze and wanted it to be done with quickly. I mean, wasn't that shit for five year olds?

Not that I could argue, I had sat through a couple decent animes. But _superheroes?_

"The Marvel universe in general is just everything amazing," Rennie continued. "You should watch the movies, at least. That's up your alley. And, one review about the first X-Men movie said that the first two minutes were when the world started to take comic book movies seriously.

The world still didn't take comic book movies seriously as far as I was concerned.

"At least First Class, though," Rennie continued. "I still have to watch Captain America, but ONLY because I've been reading all the Tony/Steve fanfiction. That line in the trailer, _heroes are made in America…_I just couldn't take that seriously."

By this point, anyone else would have asked if I was even listening to them. But Rennie almost didn't care, which was what made her so amazing.

Tobias

I was _so damn close. _

Everything was in place. This world, beneath the thinnest edge of all of them. The magic that thrummed in the air, and in my own body when I was here.

I had made this.

The clear-cut plan was almost ready; I just had a few more steps to put in place, and then the safety of this world, my sanity, and her life would be even more on the line than they already were.

Soon, I would be ready. Soon, I would get her back. Soon enough, this hell would end.

Evelyn

I could see him, after awhile.

I watched him work. I saw him create an entire rich, beautiful universe for his own use, and get himself there. I watched him complete feats that most would think were impossible.

It was all for me. How was that? Was it really possible to love that deeply?

I suppose I had once, but the aloneness and the scars in my mind had somewhat desensitized me from it.

I watched him start to build. Then, I reached out to touch him, and he stopped.

It wasn't just him. The whole universe stopped. The magic still quivered in the air, restrained and yet devilishly tempted to disobey their new rules.

I had power now.

Power is a dangerous game, and I knew that as I started to play it. It was lust for power that kept me from reaching out and letting Tobias go; that kept me scratching at that hole almost obsessively, no matter the consequences.

Eventually, I heard _them. _Two vibrant, young souls, excitable and passionate and full of energy.

I heard them. Not with ears, but with some other sense. Their existence passed through with the light.

I heard them, and I took them.

The two iota souls became my playthings. When I scraped the hole a little bigger (it still burned just as much, I knew, though I could barely feel it anymore) I could watch them, see them discovering and loving and craving.

Soon enough, I learned to play with them. I gripped those souls and separated them, changed something that was never meant to be changed. I watched them grow apart, evolve, change.

I could feel myself changing too, but that was inconsequential.

Evelyn

My little souls had their chances and their losses, their hits and misses, their joys and their regrets. When they turned too tedious for all of my attention, I found two more.

Explosions of passion and creativity, chemistry sizzling when I threw my souls around in different combinations. I could watch their lives unfold now like it was happening right in front of me, as though my hole was a pair of binoculars.

I watched them live and love and grow. Then, eventually, I was able to step through.

I interfered on a deeper level than I ever had. These were my little souls, and I was their keeper.

I gave them a choice. I didn't know if I had the power to make the second option even possible.

So I didn't really give them a choice at all. I knew these souls better than they knew themselves.

One was gone by this point, but he was unnecessary. He wasn't nearly as fun as the others, and I could easily have saved him, as I had saved the first soul more than once, but he was living in my world with my rules.

And it was my choice if the rules were fair.

Tobias

It was ready.

Everything was in place. The sun was setting in two minutes. I could hardly breathe.

My entire soul had gone into this. She would come home to me now.

This would work. It had to.

It couldn't all be for nothing.

The sun pressed down on the horizon line, and I counted down, while praying somewhere in the back of my mind. There was no one to pray to, of course, I was the sole god of this universe.

Maybe I was praying to her, on whatever higher plane of existence she existed in now. Maybe I was just wishing there was someone else above me who I could count on.

I had learned that there wasn't years ago. If I wanted something, I found a way to take it.

It had all led to this moment.

I took a deep breath, and set the disk parallel to the horizon line. The magic in the air around me began to excite.

Auby

"And Tony/Steve is absolutely the best, I have to find some way to make you believe it," I finished, clicking back to the beginning of my dash. Was Auby even listening to me? Did she even want to be here?

I stopped talking, reblogging two Doctor Who gifs in the silence. Auby barely moved. "So you're still that into the whole superhero thing?" she finally asked.

I smiled slightly. She knew enough. "Superhero is such an inconvenient way to describe the whole idea, though. Layman's terms. I mean, yeah, the characters mostly have superpowers and fight crime, but it's about so much more than that."

"Shit, you know what? I have to go," Auby grumbled, slapping down the scrap paper she had been drawing on as she practically ran out the door. "Bye!"

My heart seemed to drop a few inches in my chest. She had more important things to be doing. I was really just a waste of her time. And maybe not even a pleasant one.

I turned my chair back toward the computer, and almost by instinct, opened a familiar Word document.

I titled a new chapter and added a new name.

Evelyn

The second soul (that was what he was to me, even though he had come at the same time as the first soul, I had always liked her better) was growing more annoying by the instant. Emotion poured through the hole in my cage now, constantly bombarding me with pain, anger, elation, and devastation.

The anger all seemed to go toward the second soul. Imperfect but insubordinate, no matter what suggestions I planted in his head. My manipulation had had the adverse effect of letting him get to know his own mind all too well, and he had gained the power of free thought over me, his controller and keeper.

That would not do.

It was a game, at first. I brought him to a dingy, horrific place, which to my dismay did not even begin to break him. He knew too much, he could decide too easily.

He was mine. MINE.

I got him alone. I froze that universe, just as I had done to Tobias.

(Tobias, love of my life…no. Important to some other girl. Some frivolous teenager with no experience and no power. Power was my one true love now.)

The second soul (I refused to call him by his name; that was so far beneath me, his God) did not react. I showed him the hottest fire and the deepest water. I showed him all of the evil pouring out of my cracks.

He left my avatar slumped on the side of the alleyway until I drew it back in through the now-gaping hole I had created, letting the flesh and blood melt back into the darkness surrounding me.

Something inside me managed to scream. Nobody heard a sound.

Tobias

Through exhausted, weakened eyes, I saw the portal open. It was a golden color at first, and stayed as bright around the rims, but as I turned the tablet and the ring expanded, it became darker and darker in the center.

The process was draining a lot more of my strength than I had ever intended, and a few seconds after it was open far enough, I had to shake my head to keep from passing out. My vision was blurring, and there was blood pounding in my ears. My hands shook as I held the perfectly carved, blood-spattered disk, but I stayed standing and looked determinately into the portal.

It was terrifying.

The sunny ring on the outside seemed to be flickering on and off now- that was the magic of this world keeping the blackness at bay. Magic that was quickly running out.

"Evelyn!" I gasped, though it wasn't as though she could hear me. My knees hit the ground, but I barely felt it. Just a few more seconds…

Suddenly, there was movement. Real movement, not just imagined flickers in the blackness. Something was coming. Closer, closer!

With an extra push on this world's precisely thin boundaries, something came loose. A small human body tumbled out, stopped on the forest floor.

This last, impossible pull stripped the tablet from my hands. It tumbled forward, breaking on a rock. I could barely think anymore. The instant the tablet cracked, the portal disappeared with a whooshing noise.

I fell forward, hands to the rough ground. I should go check on whoever had fallen out, see if the broken tablet that I had been working on so long was salvageable.

But I couldn't move. And the only thought running through my mind was _not Evelyn._

Not Evelyn.

Daniel

I gasped awake, unused to the feeling of breathing. I sat there, stock still.

I was alive. Or something.

I thought that it was some new kind of hell when I first opened my eyes. Bright light, so long forgotten, tore through my eyes for the split second until I snapped them shut again. Darkness was familiar. Darkness was my current state of normal.

But the world was supposed to have light. I opened my eyes again and the light was more pleasant than harsh.

I had adjusted. Was I once again human?

I let my mind tumble in various directions as I got a feel for opening and closing my eyes. Whatever was above me in my lying down position was white, but with ridges and shadows- white, but not the way that the Abyss was black.

This was a real world, and I didn't even care which one. I was back _somewhere _and that was absolutely more than enough.

I was free.

Evelyn

The souls of mine were becoming troublesome, even the bright first soul, who had become moody and questioning the moment I had sent them each off alone.

The woman I used to be was far enough gone to release Tobias. Not to watch Tobias succeed in an impossible feat, but to possibly antagonize him and laugh at him as he crashed and burned.

I watched, absolutely fascinated, as he went further than was really humanly possible. I watched him, transfixed, as he stayed awake for days at a time, and somehow kept from going insane with the solitude. For there was no one else on this world of his, and he hadn't even bothered with animals. There was only trees as far as a mortal eye could tell, no matter what direction they walked in, brush, streams, and the large clearing that held the large house Tobias had designed seemingly as an afterthought. It was here that he spent most of his time- studying, carving, mixing, summoning, failing.

Until the night, when to everyone's surprise, he opened the portal.

Instantly, I could tell it was in the wrong direction. I could see it from Tobias's side, but couldn't feel it at all from where I was.

I wanted to call his name. I wanted to be free of this wretched thing. For that instant, I didn't care about the power I had here. I wanted to have him back, I wanted the safety and surety of his dimension; I wanted to be back there.

Then, the dead soul I had once governed slipped out and rational thought was lost in a wave of fury.

Rennie

The story had always been my most closely guarded secret, though I rarely thought of it as such. Everyone had a vice; a coping mechanism. Mine was just a bit unusual, perhaps unacceptable, but I didn't need anyone to judge.

It started with Evelyn, my sometimes perfect, sometimes awful, sometimes absent older sister. I was tired of her being cooler than me, more accepted and loved by our parents, more well liked by people in general. I was sick of Evelyn always being smarter, more mature, prettier, nicer than me.

So I took her name, and started writing. Awful things, sometimes. Beautiful things, on the occasion that I felt like writing them. On one such occasion, I gave her Tobias, a character from another story of mine. They went through all I could imagine that two people so in love as I made them be, could have to.

At the beginning, it was strange. For the first ten thousand words, until long after Tobias was put in, I had nightmares of their lives, from one of their points of view instead of the dispassionate, detached narrator that I was.

I don't think about that stage very much.

(One day, I would realize that if I had questioned it, I could have stopped a lot of heartbreak and saved several lives. But I can't blame myself anymore. There's too much to even bother.)

Rennie

Tobias and Evelyn were the story for ages, until I decided to join the two kids who had been harassing me on 4chan. If there was anything about myself that I had faith in, it was my online persona. And they had the gall, the upshot rudeness, to drive me from my safety zone and in that small way, destroy a part of me.

I didn't know their names, but I made them up for the story. They were misshapen, horrific characters at the beginning and…somewhere along the line it turned into a love story.

I _delighted _in breaking them up, forcing them through their own sorts of hell. Forty thousand words and more, and this had become my obsession. I had these people in my power, I could do with them what I liked.

(Somehow, I suppose that I knew that they were real, somewhere.)

Then, on the day that Auby Harris, dressed in preppy jeans and her varsity jacket threw me a look of absolute hatred in the hall when I dared smile at her, she truly entered the universe in more than name.

Auby's social life was as different from mine as any other two high school students in opposite demographics. I was taking an extra science class and hadn't missed an anime club meeting since Evelyn had started letting me come even though I was in middle school (she was running it at the time). Auby was different, on the outside. She had hordes of friends, pin-straight hair on school days, and a perfect attitude that could make her popular even though she let someone like me taint her on the weekends.

I could respect that. Really.

For awhile.

Junior year, when everything changed and she stopped talking to me for good, I couldn't anymore. I had lived so long on her terms, let her run the timing and extent of our friendship.

She had always been my closest friend. I hadn't been hers since elementary school.

I deserved better.

It was my turn.

Daniel

The second time I awoke, having hardly moved the last time, I could tell that I wasn't alone.

The floorboards and doors in this ancient building creaked like mad, and I could almost track the other person from the other side of the place, up a flight of stairs, to where I was.

To right outside my door.

I debated faking sleep. But that would have been the weak, tactless move. I was too strong for that. I had survived however long in that horrible place, perhaps a bit of semi-social interaction would do good.

I struggled to sit up as the door opened. My muscles were frustratingly weak. Though I was no exercise buff, in a way I had always depended on my body. I was accustomed to being agile and fairly fast, and this heaviness that resided in my limbs certainly didn't suit me.

A tall, thin young man with scruffy facial hair opened the door. With my sharp newfound eyesight, I could see the circles under his eyes from across the room. He looked world-weary and too experienced for his own good.

One second was all it took. I wanted to get to know this guy better.

Evelyn

I could still see, but no longer even had the desire to interfere. Tobias and that wretched boy lived rather unconventionally on his abruptly created world, but perhaps to another mind their interaction might have been almost charming.

I suppose I was feeling some jealousy. Here I was, unable to breathe, sleep, move or feel, and I could see the boy walking and talking and _free. _

Maybe it was jealousy, but I had stopped telling the difference between negative emotions years ago.

He was still trying. He had failed once, but he was still trying.

The emotion that I felt about that were too confusing to put stock in. He was doing it for me. He had already failed. I could mock him, I could try to sabotage him, or I could try to love him.

Love was no longer an option. He had left me alone here too long.

Instead, I turned my attention to a new development.

There was a new soul, oddly powerful and elusive to me. But strangely, it didn't seem to exist outside of the hole that I spent all of my time looking out of.

With my now boring little souls, and the confusion caused by Tobias and _his _little soul all that I had on the other side, I pushed away from the hole. I had power, wherever I was. I could make another hole somewhere. Maybe I could find my way back to this one.

But for now, I was out for power and I saw where I could get it. Didn't see exactly, but sensed it somewhere in the blackness.

If it had appeared earlier, I would have been shocked by the familiarity. But now, power hungry and scarred, I pushed off towards the feeling of it in search of only power.

Tobias

I had been searching for hours. The sun was just starting to rise, showing a faint slip of pink on the horizon.

A few shards of the symbol-covered, perfectly smooth and shaped round stone disk had survived, but not nearly enough to even attempt to glue together and try again.

My legs were beginning to cramp as I squatted down once again, searching farther and farther away from the place the tablet had shattered. The bits I had found so far could fit in my pocket. Somewhere within me, I almost believed that it was still sitting somewhere near, almost intact and usable with just a bit of manipulation.

I stood, accepting that it would be impossible. The sacramental disk was simply gone. If it were even halfway functional, the strong dark magic that it contained would have revealed itself to me long ago.

I had won. I had done the impossible.

But I had lost.

Evelyn was still trapped in that thing. And I had no way to get her out, and another disk would take months to shape and craft and instill with the necessary magic.

It took until I was trudging into the house, shoulders slumped in defeat, to remember what _had_ come out of my portal.

Hours earlier, or was it days? I had been absolutely drained, wobbly with the depleted magic of the Forest, which essentially fed off of my soul. The thin, naked, unconscious figure that had slipped out had somehow, unthinkingly, been my first priority. I had carried him inside and set him on a bed in one of my many extra rooms.

Then I had gone back outside to search for the disk and completely forgotten about him.

I hated him. I hated the fact that he existed. I didn't even need to meet him to hate all that he represented.

He wasn't Evelyn. He was just here, in my way. That was enough.

I casually opened the door to the room I had put him in, half to check on him and half to make sure that he wasn't just some sort of hallucination coming from my exhausted mind.

He wasn't. He was still there, and he was awake.

Rennie

_Hey, want to hang out? _My finger hovered over the send button. I wanted to see Auby so badly. But I wasn't even sure if the joy that would result from getting a yes in return would even balance out the unease and dread of a no.

I clicked end. Not saving in drafts.

Auby was going her own way now. She probably didn't have time for me, anyway. I would just have to accept it.

I settled down at my computer to type, and at the last second before I opened my all important document, I glanced out the window.

Auby and Kate McGill, both laughing and red-faced from soccer practice, were walking down the street from the high school in the distance. Auby didn't so much as glance up at my window.

Like I could have expected her to. She always used to do that and we would wave at each other.

I was angry for a few seconds, and then didn't think anymore as my fingers seemed to fly across the keyboard on their own.

Daniel

"Hi," I said, taking the initiative to start a conversation for the second time in my life. (The first had been with Hazel and Drew, back on the Naruto Universe. It seemed like a distant memory, perhaps of another person, but it had worked out then.)

"Hi," the other guy returned, slowly, gruffly. He sounded a bit hesitant, even confused, as though he was trying to decide something and talk at the same time.

"Where am I?" I asked, daring to take the conversation a bit further. This guy must have better things to do, but I had to know a few things.

The guy in front of me seemed to shake himself from something, inviting himself further into the room. "You're in my house, on a world I call the Forest."

"You call it?" I repeated, letting him take over.

"I created this place," he responded. "Tobias, by the way." He- Tobias- seemed jumpy, as though this conversation was as uncomfortable for him as it was for me. He reached up to grab the back of his neck with one hand, and continued with "So, who the hell are you?"

"Daniel. Adams." I stumbled over the words. They felt almost foreign to me. After so long without a name…

I almost stopped breathing as memories started to assault me. Blackness, endless blackness. No feeling, no senses. Alone, more than ever. With my thoughts. In the dark. And my thoughts had even turned against me, at times.

"Daniel?" Tobias's tone was of professional concern, but it succeeded in bringing my back to this reality. I noticed that my hands were shaking. _Hands. _I flexed them, almost as if to make sure they were real. _Everything works now. _

"Sorry," I said automatically. I had had panic attacks, trigger reactions, before. Usually, I found an excuse to slip out and deal with it on my own.

Last time, that had pretty much gotten me killed. I thought. My memory from before was disturbingly fuzzy.

"That's okay," Tobias said quickly. "Do you think I could have a little more than that?"

"Yeah, of course," I said after realizing that he was referring to his original question. "Um, I'm Daniel…" What was even important here? "I've been moving around on different universes, at least that's what I call them, for awhile, and then I died, you don't need to hear about that." I pushed myself up, propping my upper body against the headboard to appear at least a bit more presentable and worthy of a conversation. "Yeah…"

"You died?" Tobias asked, disturbingly intrigued.

"Um…" I wasn't sure how to respond of that.

"Wait, that was rude, I'm not really used to this…what happened to you?"

The wording wasn't much better, and I was terribly interested in what the "not really used to this" bit meant, but I answered anyway. "I was on a universe where kids carry around weapons all the time and someone didn't like me, well it was more complicated but I don't even really know…in short, I got stabbed." This was why I avoided one on one conversations. I rambled.

"Oh," Tobias replied shortly. "Any idea how long ago this was?"

"No," I replied honestly, thinking about it for the first time. "But I think time kind of works differently for me."

"Yeah, it's all screwed up with this life," Tobias replied, mostly to himself. "Well, see you later." He walked out abruptly, and I settled back against the bed.

Who was Tobias? What was he doing here? Why had he gotten me out of…that place? My hands clenched again at the thought of it. Was he expecting something from me?

Or had he not meant to get me out at all?

Tobias

The meager remains of the disk were spread out on the table in a lame, useless attempt of mine to emulate their former shape. It was pitiful, the pieces not much more than specks in some places.

There was another human being upstairs, and yet here I was, working alone again.

It was almost hard to believe, that it had worked. Sort of. I had pulled someone else.

Now I just had to figure out how to make that someone be Evelyn.

Which really meant that I had to start from scratch and then figure out that bit.

I heard footsteps in the hallway, a marvel on several different levels. Daniel walked through the awning into the kitchen a few seconds later. He was clothed in a large plaid shirt and jeans, which I didn't recognize. They had probably been lying around in the room I had put him in- this house had a tendency to do things like that.

Walking, he was much different than I had previously seen him. He held himself with a sort of erect determination, even righteousness, but guarded at the same time. He had secrets, and he would not under any normal circumstance disclose them.

Why was I even still looking at him? This bane of my existence, this obstacle to Evelyn?

My only company, for now.

"So you've heard my story," he said. "What's yours? You created your own world, which I have never heard of a traveler doing, and for all I know you're alone on it. I'm curious."

"Traveler?" I asked.

"That's what my friend, old friend, friend who may or may not even be alive, damn timelines, Hazel called us."

"Evelyn called us Wanderers," I replied, without even planning to say it. "I think I prefer that."

"Me too," Daniel consented quickly. "Wanderers. So who's Evelyn?"

He had obviously taken note of the past tense or maybe he was simply grasping at straws. "My girlfriend. She died," I said.

"So did I," he replied cautiously, sensing where I was going with this.

"All of this," I said. "Is to get her back. The Forest is close to the borders of the other dimension that you were trapped in, that she is still trapped in, and don't ask me to explain how that works because I just can't. There's a lot of magic here, I don't know if other people can sense it, but it exists. Less now, though, the portal depleted it considerably." I realized that I probably wasn't making sense. It didn't much matter, but the feeling of explaining my plan to something other than empty air and the idea of Evelyn was gratifying. "It will probably only take a couple of days to get restocked, but I need to write out a new tablet from scratch."

"Wow," he said, in what sounded like honest amazement. I wasn't much of a judge at the time, but it sounded genuine. "So, you wanted to get her out, got _me…" _A surprising hint of disgust was inflected in the last word. "And now you're going to try again?"

"That's the gist, got a problem?" I asked, probably being unreasonably defensive.

"You're really dedicated," he said. It shot a warm feeling into my chest, hearing that from another person. I had known that, of course. But I had known it alone, through late nights that turned into mornings and early afternoons before I passed out wherever I was. I had known the concept through frustrating periods of unproductivity as I had waited for a spell to infuse in the tablet.

Hearing it was really, really nice.

"Thanks," I said, not sure where to go next.

"Yeah," Daniel said awkwardly, still standing in the doorway. A long, awkward moment of silence followed.

"There's food all over the place, help yourself," I said brusquely. "I'm going outside." I turned around without any form of a goodbye. Whatever had just happened, my mission was the same. I was here for Evelyn. I couldn't have this boy distract me.

Daniel

I was of the mindset that I had always adjusted fairly well to new situations. My dad going to jail and me ending up in a foster home with two other kids. Hell, going from elementary school to middle school. That bit with me getting ripped out of the life I was used to and ending up in an entirely new universe. And again, and again, and again.

And now, dying and being back.

I was pretty sure that wasn't all there was to it. I seriously doubted that was where people who led normal lives with a normal timeline on a single universe went when they died. That was the place where Tobias was looking for Evelyn. They were travelers- wanderers, I might as well call us now- too. It seemed that everything about life was different for us. Even death.

I was pretty used to that fact too.

Now I just had to deal with the fact that whenever I closed my eyes, even to blink, I was irrationally afraid that I wouldn't be able to open them again.

That was pretty frustrating.

But I was out, for better or worse.

Well. Better for me, definitely. Worse for Tobias. It should have been Evelyn out here.

I grabbed a granola bar from a box open on the counter- why resist free food?- and went over to the window. This world, if nothing else, was breathtakingly beautiful. The trees were of varying sizes, some of the trunks thicker than my arm span. The leaves were all different colors- some green, some autumnal reds or yellows, and some totally unexpected and impossible. The trees seemed to form a barrier around this clearing that we were in, blocking off whatever else there might be on this world from sight.

_He made all this,_ I thought, looking at Tobias at the forest's edge, probably searching for something. That concept made it seem all that much bigger.

There was one small scar on the perfection of the planet- or whatever this was, it could be a flat plane for all I knew. It was a small burn mark in the most open area of the clearing, and I realized a second too late that it was probably from the portal that had brought me out of there.

From that nasty realization, I couldn't help but watch Tobias. He picked up a piece of rock, examined it, and then threw it into the Forest.

Rebuilding the tablet, already.

I should at least be helping, I knew. I flexed my fingers once again, and it felt like they were as naturally agile as they had ever been. I could do this.

I didn't speak when I walked outside, just went over to Tobias. "What exactly am I looking for?" I asked clinically, hoping to give the impression that I wanted to help but still give him his space.

"Sharp, flat pieces of rock. I haven't found much, and I'm about to give up and start over, but you can look anywhere," he said flatly, not even looking up.

"Sounds good," I said, and walked over a ways to begin my own search. I knew that he would see this whole Evelyn thing through- I could sense his tough determination. I promised myself that I would see it through with him.

Rennie

I was alone, and I knew it.

I started keeping my eyes trained on the ground in the hallway, not even apologizing for bumping into people or stepping on their feet out of fear or those _looks. _I had gotten them forever, but I guess I had built up something to repel them, to keep them from affecting me.

I think that Auby had been a part of that shield.

I could live inside my imagination for days on end, but something would always draw me back.

I was here, on this Earth, Rennie Novak, in this small awkward body.

And there was no changing it, hard as I tried.

I think I gave up, though I don't remember when. I put more and more of myself into my stories, never publishing them, just keeping them on my home and school accounts and my flashdrive for safekeeping. They were my lifeline. They were where my soul was being stored.

When I was thinking about the stories, Auby's deliberate glance up and away from me in the hallways was almost better.

That's a lie.

I couldn't stand to see her walking towards me, so I sometimes turned around. I thought of things that I could do to her in revenge when I had to walk behind her.

Then I got on the computer and did them.

It wasn't much of a life, but the feeling of control, the security I found in these stories, were all that made this existence bearable.

I didn't know how long I would be able to go on like this, but for now, when I was writing, I was content. It worked. It was the only way the universe worked for me.

No Auby, no friends, and no hope- that was my life. But I had my little something.

Meanwhile, at the forest

Daniel

Quickly a routine was established for the Forest, or at least it seemed like it to me. I was starting to learn the magic of this world, could almost see the tiny golden particles in the air around me, just beyond my reach. It was quickly established that I had absolutely no talent for manipulating them, but it was a step.

Tobias showed me the right kind of rock to find that was the first step in building the tablet. It was a fairly malleable, smooth stone that would apparently melt in a regular fire. That was how the large, smooth surface of the tablet was created. The rock was like nothing I had ever seen or touched before, but some days it seemed like it was the same for everything on this world- the trees were impossibly tall, the brush impossibly dense. The grass was crunchy underfoot and tough to pull up. Even the sun seemed different.

We were finding rocks, and the rest of the time we spent in the house, reading. Tobias was looking in some sort of chicken scratch hieroglyphic language that would help him increase the dimensions of the portal, decrease it's taxation on the Forest, and something about specificity.

One day, I asked if I could learn the language. The answer was a flat no.

The same went for most of our conversations. A question. An answer. The end.

Sometimes, it was difficult to stand the disconnectedness, but I knew that I deserved it. I was just in the way. I had no right to be here.

Tobias didn't have any reason to show me respect.

I tried, I really did. I searched for the stones. I learned the magic. I tried to keep busy, because when I stood still, I was in the Abyss again- unseeing, immobile, alone.

The same went for when I slept.

Thus, late nights became a thing that Tobias and I shared. One such night, after it was way too dark to hunt stones, I sat on an armchair reading a novel that I had found on a shelf while Tobias studied his language book.

"Give me words," he said suddenly, and I looked up in surprise. Conversation between us was rare, but for him to start a conversation was almost unheard of. A warm rush of validation came with the question, even though it didn't make any sense.

"What kind of words?" I asked, glad to comply.

"Sorry, that was social incompetence talking. Words that will help, you know? With the thing? I've got a fresh brain for this stuff, I might as well use it."

I wasn't sure whether the 'fresh brain' description was supposed to be an insult (the first thing that came to mind happened to be a pale brain on ice in a supermarket fish display), but I refrained from taking it as one. "Um, create, burn, break through, take, pass…hey, do you have a thesaurus in here?"

He looked at me, as though he was surprised that my fresh brain was actually being helpful. "On the bookshelf behind you," he said, and I got up to grab it because I was closer and he was holding the heavy language (spell?) book on his lap.

After a moment of pause, I went to sit next to him on the larger couch, to make things easier. Already, this was one of the more extensive conversations we had had.

"I'll try break first," I commentated, for the sake of something to say. "Rest period, crush, destroy…probably not the best word to use."

"Why don't you start with Portal?" Tobias suggested, shifting closer to me to see the book.

Suddenly, the Abyss flashbacks that had kept me up this late in the first place were triggered again. I was hot and cold at the same time, with no one to reach out and touch.

Tobias was right there. I could feel his body heat on my arm. It would be so easy to close that carefully maintained distance…

I blinked once and took a few determined breaths of real, worldly air. I was here, not there.

Tobias was right next to me, but impossibly far away.

Tobias

I hated him. He wasn't Evelyn. He was here instead of Evelyn. For all I knew, he had pushed Evelyn out of the way to get her.

I tried that. Daniel was worthless, Daniel was unnecessary, Daniel was my bane. I needed to rescue Evelyn from that hell, not this kid.

I noticed the faraway look in his eyes, when he stopped, stock still in the middle of a task. I saw the panic on his face when I accidentally turned out a light in a room that he was still in.

I hadn't asked him about it- I wouldn't. I would ask Evelyn, when I got her back. I would help _her. _

But then, there were the times, when I hadn't slept in a few days, when for a moment at a time, I saw him differently. His face was strangely expressive when he read, even though it was guarded and low on emotion the rest of the time. I became accustomed to, even fascinated with the movements of his eyes, lips and head as I tried to decipher more and more of the language I had founded this world on.

One night, I asked him a question. Then things spiraled out of control. I kept talking, even though I felt an uncomfortable twinge of regret with it. He came and sat next to me, inexplicably and _not my fault, _and then, all of a sudden, we were having a real conversation and laughing over the ridiculous words in a thesaurus together.

This was all wrong. This should be me and Evelyn, her curled up by my side, on a steampunk world somewhere, her favorite.

But Daniel was here now, and through the guilt, it was pleasant to use my voice to another person, alive and in this dimension and capable of responding. It was nice to head another voice, proof that I wasn't the only person left alive, anywhere. There was a reason most people didn't make worlds of their own- it was lonely. No man is an island, they say, and I guess I tried that.

Half an hour later, I decided to call Daniel a friend. What he had been before, I didn't know. A temporary houseguest. An unwanted obstruction.

I could tell that he was warming up to me, too. His eyes were alight with humor and contention as I had never seen them before. His cheeks were slightly flushed from laughing (we had transitioned from the thesaurus to a rhyming dictionary after awhile- all the more amusing). He looked like he finally felt safe here, though I only thought about it like that now. Before, I had tried too hard to shut him out, not notice him.

But no man is an island, and we could have each other. And maybe that doesn't have anything to do with the fact that neither of us questioned falling asleep on opposite ends of the couch. It's of no matter that I woke up and smiled at the fact that he was still sleeping. I was no island, and that was okay.

Whatever got Evelyn back faster.

Daniel

Everything changed a little bit after that night. We talked more, more than was really absolutely necessary. Sometimes, one of us would say something just to fill the silence, and that would be okay.

I had never been the person to do that. I didn't have any particular attachment to the sound of my own voice.

At least, I hadn't. Before the Abyss.

Now, speaking helped take some of the edge off.

"You know what else takes the edge off?" Tobias answered, because apparently I had spoken out loud. He walked in to the room with all the books, where I was sitting with the symbol book and the hasty translation thing Tobias had whipped up to help me learn it.

He was carrying two bottles of beer.

"I don't-" I started.

"What, drink? Don't tell me it's because you're a minor, we've both been through too much to really count. We deserve this. Let go, live a little." Tobias had already taken the cap off, and was holding the beer out to me.

I grabbed it with an internal shrug. Live a little. What the hell.

I took a casual swig from the bottle. I wasn't much of a fan of the taste, but it wasn't too bad.

Tobias chuckled once- the most of a laugh I had ever seen out of him- and sprawled down on the couch in front of me with his own beer. "You know, I put alcohol here, but I haven't drank since I came? Because getting drunk alone would be the saddest thing ever."

"Oh," I said quietly, quickly drinking the rest of the beer to avoid speaking. I was feeling a little bit lightheaded, my vision was somehow screwed up.

I was used to control; I thrived on it. I could control myself, my body and mind, my actions. That was all I needed. And I was about to lose that on purpose.

"You got any more of these?"

"Of course."

Tobias

I was slightly past the tipsy phase, and at what I normally would call pleasantly drunk.

Tonight, instead of pleasant, I felt sick. Sick of all the stress I had been building up. Sick of trying and trying and not getting what I wanted.

I was sick of the memories of Evelyn that threatened to eat me alive, the painful recollection of her accusatory face. I hadn't come. She was still trapped in that place that gave Daniel nightmares.

And Daniel was here, drinking my beer, sitting on my couch…this was not his world. This world was for me and for Evelyn. He was not welcome here.

But he had to be, didn't he? I was a decent person, so I had let him stay.

So Daniel was still here. And not Evelyn.

Even thinking her name was too much, almost. _I'm sorry Evelyn I'm so sorry…_

I spoke for the first time out loud, for the same reason that Daniel had cited for starting this whole thing. "I fucking hate you, you know?"

Daniel

No. I didn't know.

The words were like a punch to the gut; hard to swallow. On one hand, of course Tobias hated me. I had come instead of Evelyn. I had prevented him from seeing her. I was just in the way.

But I think that the alcohol made me stronger in some way, because despite the part of me that thought like that, I said "You know what? That doesn't even matter to me. Because whatever it may be you hate me for, I didn't get myself trapped in the Abyss on purpose. I didn't come out through your portal on purpose; I don't even remember it. I don't remember ever seeing Evelyn, but I'm helping you help her. Whatever you want to blame me for is _not my fucking fault._"

It was the longest thing I had ever said to him. The longest thing I had said to anyone in a long time.

Tobias only took a few seconds to respond. "You entitled little shit," he replied. "What if I hate you because you're just fucking annoying? Ever considered that? And you know, maybe it doesn't matter. This world is mine. You're a GUEST on my world, how about you treat me with some respect?"

I balked at his criticism. _I don't deserve this. _He was right. _He's not. _"I couldn't get off your fucking world if I tried," I said, somehow steeling myself to counter his accusations. "I'm not acting entitled. I never do. I will do absolutely anything you ask, even if it's just to stay out of your way."

"You could at least show some remorse," Tobias grumbled, not even looking at me.

I stood up, barely realizing that I did so, it was so natural. "No fucking way. I am not going to apologize for anything. I'm sorry that you lost Evelyn, and I'm sorry that you have to go this far, go through all this, just to get her back. But I'm not sorry for getting in the way. Hell, I'm not even in the fucking way. You can do whatever you want, I'm not stopping you. I'm not going to apologize for dying, and being trapped in that horrible fucking place, and I'm not going to apologize for the fact that you rescued me, which I believe that I have expressed gratitude for!" Tobias finally met my eyes as I stopped talking. He looked reserved and melancholy.

"I will never be halfway to getting you, will I?" Tobias muttered, his voice almost too quiet and slurred to make out. "I…you've said your piece. Just go away, will you?"

I walked out of the room without a last word, anger heating up my eyes and surprise somewhere in my heart. I did not deserve any of this. I _knew _that I did not deserve any of this.

Tobias

Though my mind was cloudy and inebriated, I was reeling with the shock of what had just happened. Daniel had spoken up for himself, loudly, and I knew but could not quite comprehend that I had just said some pretty horrible things.

Evelyn would have been kinder. Evelyn's very presence would probably have kept me from saying those things. But hell, if Evelyn were here there was no way I would be paying attention to Daniel at all.

It was all a giant screwed up fucking mess and I opened another beer.

Daniel

_So are we just going to forget that last night ever happened? _I wondered as I dug into the ground on the clearing floor (we were making a pedestal to keep the tablet on so it couldn't fly off and break again). _Because that's totally fine with me. _

Tobias was sitting on the step of the open door, scratching out ancient symbols on the smooth rock we had created from molten bits. This was pulling itself together fast, and we would soon be ready to try again. For Evelyn.

Neither of us had spoken a word all morning, me following his lead. I wasn't sure how long it continue like this, silence as thick as the tiny golden particles of magic in the air, but after my outburst, I was waiting for him to speak first.

Unless he expected me to apologize. That, he was never going to see.

Maybe I should…

No. I was too strong for that now. I still got motion stopping flashbacks of my time in the Abyss, and I was glad to be out. I was doing everything I could to get Evelyn out quickly and effectively.

"Should we put on some music, at least?" I said two hours later, after I had been rehearsing that line for almost thirty minutes.

Tobias didn't answer, to my crushing disappointment. It was my last attempt of the day.

"What are you reading?" he asked me, hours later, when it was dark out and the microwave was warming up some food.

"The Crucible," I answered, without looking up. He didn't offer an opinion. He didn't answer at all.

It was kind of sad. I loved talking about books.

The silence was driving me mad, I decided the next morning. I was finding properly sized rocks near the edge of the Forest itself to use as a base for the platform I was creating, and Tobias was once again at work on the tablet.

"Truce?" I called out to him seemingly out of nowhere. "That never happened?"

"I'm sorry, Daniel," he said, putting down the large rock and starting to walk over to where I was. It seemed like he had been waiting to say those words all day. Relief cascaded through me. "I should have treated you better from the beginning. It's like…I think I've kind of forgotten how to be human, being here. Believe it or not, I think you help. And I know I've at least taken that for granted," he continued, voice lowering the closer to me that he got.

"That's okay," I started to say, but I was choked off from finishing, because a second later his arms were around me in a friendly hug. I returned it automatically, feeling tension that I hadn't known I had been carrying seep out of me.

I broke away after a few seconds, annoyingly skittish about contact, still. "Let's finish this," I said.

Tobias smiled, but it was a regretful smile, as though he was thinking of something imaginary or far away with it. "Let's."

Tobias

"Tell me about where you were. What you were doing. Before," I said a few hours later, for the sake of conversation. I had books, sure, and memories, but some solid proof that something outside this world that I was beginning to hate would be welcome.

"Anime universes," he answered immediately. "That was always, kind of my thing."

I raised a hand in faux surrender. "Not judging."

_Evelyn sat across from me, the sun overhead twinkling in her blue eyes. "Shut up, anime is amazing. And no judging allowed."_

_I held my hand up, palm facing her, and she swatted it away playfully. _

This was a snippet of memory that I hadn't reviewed time and time again since coming here, unlike many others. I wasn't even sure if it had ever been real.

"I met these other two kids," Daniel continued. "I wonder if you know them, there are only so many of us Wanderers, I guess, and I think they tend to stick us in close proximity-"

"They?" I immediately questioned. "Who do you think controls all this?"

"I don't know, I said that figuratively," Daniel snapped back, growing rightfully defensive. "I don't know, and for what it's worth, I don't care."

"How could you even say that?" I asked, the genuine remorse that I had felt for him disappearing with a single sentence. "You don't even _care_?"

"Sometimes you pretend to understand me, Tobias, and sometimes it works," Daniel replied, his voice carefully deadpanned. "But you don't know what happened to me. I'm pretty sure you never will."

A drop of rain fell and landed on my elbow. For an instant, I focused on this insignificant detail and almost forgot about my anger. It was raining. It had never rained before on the Forest.

Then I focused back, and looked at Daniel again. "You can't even make that tiny decision on what you _believe?_ You surprise me sometimes, I'll admit that. You have more backbone than I think I've seen. But sometimes, right now, I can tell that you're selfish as fuck with this stuff." I was at a loss for words. It felt wrong to yell at Daniel, especially now. It felt completely right.

"Someone once criticized me for not being selfish enough," he said slowly, looking me straight in the eyes. "So what's it going to be?"

"You've changed, since the Abyss. I didn't know you before, but I can tell," I said. I scarcely remembered walking over to where he was standing near the half formed platform for my tablet, but we were practically face to face.

"I know," he said quietly, attempting to cover the break in his voice. "And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, and you're sure as fuck not helping right now."

The sudden, inexplicable rush of affection that always swamped through me when Daniel finally dropped a barrier like this took over all rational thought. I touched his wrist, and he quickly jolted it away. "We're too screwed up for each other," I murmured, my face close enough to his ear for him to hear it even over the accelerating rain.

"Agreed," Daniel said, just as softly. Cautiously, he brought his wrist forward again and I took his hand without reservation, and for awhile we just stood there, letting the rain run down our bare skin and saturate our clothes and hair.

Neither of us seemed to want to move from this very spot.

Daniel

It rained almost every day as we got closer to the day that we would be able to open the Abyss. I could tell that the rain affected our moods as much as it affected the ground and sky. Tobias got snappish when it was raining, and I stayed quiet as much as I could.

The times when it wasn't raining, however, were some of the best I had ever experienced. Tobias and I worked in closer companionship every day, to the point that we could sit on opposite sides of a table and carve on the tablet at the same time, our motions perfectly avoiding each other's careful work.

At night, we had begun to sleep in the same room. We had both been on his bed one night, just talking, and fallen asleep. A short, cryptic conversation about nightmares was all it took to turn this into a habit.

I cared very strongly for Tobias now, and there was no way I would tell him, but our connection, our comradeship, was the deepest that I had ever experienced.

He was a real person. He wouldn't disappear. He wouldn't betray me.

Those thoughts were terrifying.

When we were together, it was like there was more of _us _than there was of us as individuals; like we were a part of each other. I stopped feeling whole when he wasn't near me.

And it scared me, really, but I drew some comfort from the fact that it seemed to scare him, too. It seemed more normal that way. Like it was okay to be scared. Like he was involved just as deeply with me as I was with him.

It was fine when I didn't think too much. When we were working together in silence or with sporadic bursts of conversation, in some kind of divinely guided harmony, or when we were really talking and engaged in nothing else. We were intertwined in an intimate way I had never experienced before.

It was terrifying, and different, but when I wasn't thinking too hard it wasn't strange at all.

Tobias

When we kissed for the first time, it was more of an agreement than anything. It was the natural next step, one that we didn't _need _to take, but needed to. It wasn't desperate, or curious, it just felt right.

Like with her.

I almost jerked myself away at the very thought of Evelyn _she deserves more than this from me, I have been doing everything I can, I need this, _I don't…

But what if she never came back at all? What if our carefully constructed portal didn't work?

Before, I had been hinging my entire existence on that. The portal opens and Evelyn comes out or I would die a little bit more. But now, with Daniel, it felt like everything had a chance of being alright anyway.

Daniel

The preparations for the portal were almost ready. The magic in the air had been thickening since I had arrived, and for some reason, I had started to feel closer and closer to the Abyss. My nights were filled with disjointed dreams about bleeding and dying, over and over again, and then not being able to breathe or see or feel or even _know, _even be.

When my nightmares woke me but I managed not to wake Tobias, I would sneak across the lower floor of the house, grab a stack of kitchen knives, bring them outside, and practice throwing them against trees. Just like old times.

Knives wouldn't help against the demons and whatever else I was facing now. Maybe they had never helped at all. But something inside me still drew comfort from the feeling of my arm moving in the precise order that it took to slide that thin, dull projectile into bark and stay. It made me feel powerful. Power was unnecessary. I didn't have power over anything but myself, and I didn't need any more power than that.

The illusion of power felt nice, though.

_Plunk. _

We didn't have very long until the portal would be ready. Two days from now, Tobias had estimated.

_Plunk. _

Of all things to admit, I couldn't shake the fear that the Abyss would not spit Evelyn out, but take me back in. Or, slightly better, but still making me sick to my stomach to think of- Evelyn got out, but for a price. Me.

_Plunk. _

Tobias

I woke up to hear the bedroom door quietly swinging closed, and I didn't move, assuming that Daniel had gotten up to grab some water or use the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, he wasn't back. Out of negligible curiosity, I stood up and opened the door.

From the hallway window, I could see him faintly. He was at the edge of the forest, closest to the house, repeatedly throwing something at a tree. Rocks?

No. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that it was knives. They stuck in the tree, every last one, the handles quivering.

After a quick internal battle, I opened up the back door and followed him outside. The clearing wasn't as chilly as one might have expected it to be at night. The air was only a few degrees cooler than the comfortable temperature it remained during the day.

The grass was dewy on my bare feet. Soon, Evelyn would be walking on this grass. And then we would both leave this place. For good.

But now, it was Daniel who needed my attention. I couldn't exactly stomp my feet to get his attention- that sometimes worked in the house, to keep from scaring him- so when I was still several yards back, I gave him a quiet "hey."

Daniel, who had just started forward to grab his knives from the tree, turned around quickly with the deer in the headlights look that I knew he would sport, and always felt a bit guilty now for inducing.

"You okay?" I asked unnecessarily, just to say _something. _

After hesitating at my presence for a moment, Daniel went up to the tree to collect the knives. I could see the lean muscles in his upper arms work as he pulled the knives from the bark, one by one. "Yeah."

"You're seriously going to bother saying that?"

"Yeah," Daniel replied, coming back to stand about where he had been and throwing another knife precisely into the tree.

"You're really good at that," I commented, grasping at straws, just hoping that this would go somewhere. If I had ever been good at these conversations, I had worsened considerably during my last few months here. But at the same time, I was pretty sure that I was getting better at Daniel.

"It makes me feel stronger," he said, throwing another to punctuate. It whistled through the air and struck the tree a foot above the last.

"I think you're strong enough already," I commented, risking a few steps forward. Another knife, and a few steps turned into my arms around his chest from behind. He unconsciously relaxed a bit to my touch, as he always did. He made no move to pick up the next knife.

"This is really happening," he said, and it spoke to how little we even needed to talk anymore than I knew exactly what he was saying.

"It isn't any easier the second time," I replied, getting butterflies at even the thought of what we would attempt the day after tomorrow.

Daniel made a sympathetic, monosyllabic groan of acknowledgment, and put his hands on my wrists, tentatively drawing us closer. I responded just so- Daniel initiating touches or changing things didn't happen often.

"Inside?" I suggested, after a few minutes like this. Daniel moved a bit and I moved my arms. He started for the knives, but I shook my head. "Leave them. That stuff can all wait."

He followed me inside, not even saying what I thought he would. A question I didn't really know the answer to. _Wait for what? _

But later, going to sleep again with our limbs connected, I was able to believe for the few seconds until I was lost in sleep, that everything was okay and would stay okay.

Meanwhile, in the stargate universe

_The first time, Hazel and Drew were fourteen, just old enough to appreciate the magic of what was happening and yet still help out and do right by it. They were perfect together, on that first universe. It was better than their old lives, and they both knew it. _

_Then everything changed. They were sent off alone. Hazel realized her own destructive capabilities. Drew learned to function without her, and at the same time experienced the guilt of infidelity. They grew up. _

_Now they're sixteen, old too early__, but trying again. Maybe it will work out. And maybe it will just prove that nothing can bring them back to the perfection that once defined them. _

Hazel

_Stargate_

I woke up feeling wary and disoriented. I could tell that this was a new universe because well, I could just tell now.

The place that I had come from- that all white room- thing, with Hazel and Drew_ and Evelyn, what the hell…_

But it was real, somehow. Maybe in the same way I was and wasn't real.

Bored of thoughts, I opened my eyes and tried to stand up. I immediately slipped on the muddy ground that I had been lying on, steadying myself after a terrifying moment in which I thought I was at the edge of a cliff.

Bad experiences with cliffs. Yeah.

In reality, once I stood up I could see that I had been lying in a ditch on the side of a straight stretch of road.

_Classy, Universe, classy.._

Well, not Universe. That favored theory of mine had been heartily disproven by Evelyn.

And I refused to talk to Evelyn, even inside my head, after all she had done.

All she had done…bringing us here, giving us this life, _I loved this, _but she _controlled _us, how could she possibly…

Yeah, thoughts might not be the best idea right now. Maybe too many trips in the Abyss had drained my brain of oxygen.

_Maybe too much yanking by Evelyn drained my brain of me._

Thoughts hurt too much.

I climbed out of the ditch, trying not to care that I was covered in mud, and refused to even bother to check my backpack. Evelyn might have put something in it, she might have put something in my head and _of course _I wouldn't be able to tell, and maybe it wasn't really me deciding which direction I walked away in, but I could always pretend.

Maybe I could pretend until I actually believed it.

Drew

_Togainu no Chi_

I don't know how long I walked for. I held onto the sword that I had so clumsily used like a lifeline. This was a dangerous world, and really, I just wanted off of it.

Or maybe I didn't. What I knew was that I wanted to live this life by my own terms, and leaving this place wouldn't fit there.

So I kept the sword, and I kept walking. I got to the barbed-wire edge of Tokyo (I couldn't remember what they called it in this dystopian future universe, that was a good sign. Generally, Evelyn would have told me. Inside my head. Without my consent or even my knowledge) just as the sun was setting. I could go back to the bar. I could go back and meet up with the manga characters and risk the fact that they might kill me at the drop of a hat.

I was alone, in a dangerous unfamiliar place, in a t-shirt and jeans and unsteadily holding a fucking katana. (In my nondominant right hand, no less. My left wrist was still iffy from the time I'd sprained it on the Naruto universe,

That was a few weeks ago.

_A few fucking weeks. _Not even enough time for a sprain to heal. And yet, so much had changed.

Daniel was dead.

Kind of. Maybe.

Hazel was somewhere else. Evelyn Novak was an all-powerful being with ultimate control over all of our lives.

Over our minds.

A few hours, and I was already regretting my decision. I had chosen this life to stay with Hazel. To be able to be the man I had become here, and never would in that universe.

Hazel wasn't here. I was alone.

And I wasn't all that sure who I was right now either.

Hazel

I didn't know where I was. I knew that would come in time.

A while ago, I would have thought that with excitement. Now, it was just depressing.

I was here. A new place, maybe somewhere interesting. Maybe somewhere where I could change something that needed changing.

But somehow, now, it didn't seem to matter.

Whatever I did was being controlled by something beyond me, who had the power to put a stop to anything I accomplished. My life wasn't even worth living.

For as long as I could remember, my religion had been the Chaos Theory, or the Theory of Randomness. Of free will. Of making your own decisions.

Not many people are given the unpleasant experience of being proven wrong by another's God.

I was starting to understand what the people on Stargate worlds felt like when they were taken over by the Goa'uld, later the Ori.

I kept walking along the side of the road, mostly looking down to keep my footing, and almost tripped over the sign before I saw it.

NO TRESPASSING

MILITARY FACILITY

US AIR FORCE

That was the gist of it anyway. But that random thought of Stargate, _this…_I had learned to trust my instincts a few universes ago.

If I was right, and where I was dropped made as much sense as it usually did…this could be a good trip.

Drew

Relief was my first emotion when I felt the transition starting. This universe was bad; the worst.

Then, when I was drawn up into the Abyss and the destruction around me melted into blackness, I felt only apathy. It didn't matter where I went. Leaving just meant that Evelyn had won.

Evelyn would always win.

I woke up short for breath on the middle of a deserted road a few seconds later. The change of scenery was just as disconcerting as usual, but I stood up and made my way to the side of the road as soon as I realized where I was, because lying in the middle of a road perhaps isn't the best place to contemplate one's existence.

My head pounded and my vision seemed to weaken when I stood up, but I was fine after a few blinks.

To my right was nothing but grass and the thin road that I was standing next to. To my left, about a hundred meters down the road (I could judge this as a result of having run track in middle school- only thing I really got out of those months) was a sign with a person standing around it.

Beyond them was a mountain range, not too far in the distance. I walked that way to see what the other person (who I was pretty sure I could see) was doing out here in the middle of nowhere without a car.

The person didn't turn around as I came closer, even though I made no efforts to quiet my footsteps. I started noticing things about fifty yards out. Dark blue backpack. Mid-length dark hair pushed into a sensible low ponytail.

_Not enough, _I thought. This was impossible. Evelyn wouldn't give me this.

By twenty five yards, I was sure. "Hazel?" I called out, something like "sorry, wrong number" on the tip of my tongue.

The girl whipped around immediately, backpack bouncing. "_Drew?" _

Hazel's face. It had been far too many nightmares since I had seen that face.

I couldn't help it. Call me a dork, I ran the rest of the way to where she was standing. "I know where we are," she said first.

"I don't care," I replied honestly, in earnest, as I reached out to hug her. Neither of us said anything for a long moment.

"I remember when that would have been weird," Hazel reminisced when we mutually broke apart. Well, the mutuality was theoretical. I could have held onto her forever.

"We were different people back then," I added, smiling and leaning down to kiss her gently. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but I slipped my hand into hers the instant we broke apart, as though I planned to make up for lost time with constant physical contact.

Hell, maybe I did. All I needed to know right now was that she was safe and here with me.

Hazel

Drew was kind of a mess, but so was I, and that didn't stop the thrill in my chest upon seeing him from lingering. He looked exhausted more than anything, and when he hugged me I knew that he absolutely needed it. I let him cling on for awhile, even though overly long hugs were not exactly my thing.

We really needed to talk about things. The last time we were alone together, we had been fighting. Over something not worth fighting for, perhaps, but I felt some unclear ground between us all the same.

"I think you'll really like where we are," I hinted, gently swinging our locked hands back and forth as Drew read the No Trespassing sign.

"I have an idea that I really want to be right," Drew replied, glancing poignantly up at the not too distant mountain that towered over us.

"If we're on the same page, I'll consider it confirmed," I said. "One, two, three…"

"Stargate," we said at the same time. We grinned at each other, and Drew looked more alive than I had thus far seen him.

Something woke up inside of me. I was here. Stargate universe. My theories of any kind of universal time travel or whatever bullshit had always had undertones of Stargate. It was like all roads were meant to lead me here.

And Drew. _Real, actual, alive Drew. _He was here with me, just like at the beginning before everything got too gloriously fucked up once again.

It was just the two of us, once again. A universe practically made for us.

_Stargate._

"Let's go," I said to Drew. "We'll check out the mountain and see if we get arrested on the way there. Then we wow them with facts about the Stargate and stuff and go from there."

"Sounds familiar," he said, with an obvious hint of nostalgia. And then, "Sounds like a plan."

Drew

There was a truck coming from the mountains, fast enough to bring up dust. General Hammond- or maybe Landry, we could be in the later part of the timeline- was probably watching us stroll towards their top secret base via satellite.

"So do we start with a lame attempt to pretend that we didn't see the sign, or do we just say what we want?" I asked, and then I could have shot myself. It felt completely wrong, to be actually talking about this kind of thing. From the beginning it had just _happened, _we had melded together perfectly with our lying or truthful or both introductions to strangers.

Why was I suddenly feeling the need to question it?

"We saw the sign. Definitely," Hazel responded, seeming unfazed. "And then, go with the flow?"

"Are you kidding? We make the flow," I said, but the joke sounded forced even to my own ears.

"Hands where we can see them! Spread out!" a rough voice barked as the army truck that we had seen in the distance parked next to where we were walking.

I smiled quickly at Hazel who gave me her trademark smirk back, and we followed the instructions.

"On the ground!" the same voice barked. There was a gun pointing at me, held by an unfamiliar female soldier. The guy giving orders had his gun trained on Hazel, while another guy rifled through her backpack.

Three of them for two of us. It was kind of an honor, actually.

I lay down on the muddy ground (it wasn't like it could mess up my shirt anymore) and sighed, waiting for them to start asking questions that I had yet to think of fantastic answers to.

Hazel

If this was my original life and I was in this situation, I would have been terrified. Right now, I was simply and inexplicably happy.

I was here. Drew was here. There were dudes pointing guns at us, but I had watched enough TV to know that they wouldn't shoot unless we did anything wrong.

"Are you aware that you are on United States Air Force territory?" a young soldier barked at us. He probably did this patrol every day. He would be loving the fact that something had actually happened for once, even if it was just two muddy teenagers walking inside the sparsely marked grounds.

"Yeah," Drew said casually. "We thought we'd try to have a peek at the Stargate."

I smiled into the ground. Brilliant. Perfect. One sentence, and they had no choice but to take us inside.

"What the hell is a stargate?" a red haired female officer asked us severely. Oh, they were going down this route.

"It's a-" Drew and I started at the same time. "You first," I relented. He probably had something more clever than what I had been planning to say ready.

"It's a big ring thing that kind of explodes when you turn it on and then you can travel to other planets through it," Drew replied.

I decided to add on, one upping him. "Cheyenne Mountain has a bunch of teams that work on other planets for, like, sciency stuff and adventuring and I could give you some specific stories-"

"We've read all the files," said Drew.

The soldiers looked bewildered at our display. Exactly what we had been going for.

One of the soldiers went away. I heard him talking on his radio, but I couldn't make out the words. The mud we were lying in was seeping through my clothes in an uncomfortable way. They had better let us get up soon.

"Get up," the female redhead ordered with conviction. I wasn't about to protest that. I sprang to my feet and went to grab my backpack, but one of the officers snatched it away before I could touch it.

"Hey!" I said automatically. My backpack had been with me through universe after universe, and besides any sentimental value that may exist, I was damn proud of that fact.

"We need to search it. And you," the younger male leader said gruffly as he handed my precious bag to someone in the back. He pointed at Drew. "Kid, take off the sweatshirt. Both of you, pockets inside out and then put your arms out."

Awesome. How very awkward.

On a less military universe, I would have muttered that to Drew. Here, there were serious guns involved and I had to play my cards right.

The female soldier, who wore a nametag that said Greene, patted me down while I tried to resist grimacing. While she was touching me, it felt like something was trying to get out through my skin, a prickly feeling that lingered wherever her hands had been. I used to hate being touched, and at times like these I realized that that particular phobia had never really gone away.

Two years ago, I would have slapped the girl already. I had certainly come a long way.

The search was over quickly enough, and I was handed my backpack. I wanted to rifle through it then and there, but I knew that would make it look like whatever hidden bomb I was carrying in there was still there.

We were silently motioned towards the truck, and Drew and I squeezed in next to each other in the backseat. My backpack was on my lap. Drew covertly put his hand over mine in between our seats, and I turned my palm to clasp his.

So there we were, in the back of an army truck headed for a top secret base that could be in the process of alien invasion for all we knew, holding hands like nothing at all was amiss.

Because nothing at all was amiss.

Drew

The requisite questioning was disappointingly uneventful, except for the part where the unscheduled off world activation alarms started blaring and Hazel and I shouted "Unscheduled off world activation!" at the same time. We didn't get any timeline hints, except for the fact that Hammond was questioning us. A plus for me. A disappointment to Hazel, who was a huge fan of Vala and Captain Mitchell, both introduced long after Hammond left.

After only an hour, we were shut up in a familiar cement walled cell to await further questioning get us out of the way while they figured out what the fuck to do with us.

"We should have played the alternate universe card," Hazel recanted.

"We could tell them what we told Torchwood. That worked well enough."

"That just feels wrong. Back then, we thought that was the truth."

I mused over that. Wasn't it still the truth, even if everything was a level shallower than we had originally realized?

Hazel had just lost her god, I remembered. I looked at her, trying to remember what had happened to us just yesterday. Was it yesterday? How long, how many universes had it been since I had slept?

It had been evening on the Naruto universe…that seemed like it had been years ago. A faded, happy memory.

Daniel…

Then Evelyn and her fucking choices. I couldn't bear to try reasoning through that. Something I hadn't considered in my anger at her was the fact that only on this universe would I ever be aware that I had chosen wrong.

Then the Togainu no Chi universe, possibly summoned out of her livid, irrational anger. I didn't dare go further.

All in all, it had been a long day. I didn't even know what time it was supposed to be here.

I looked at Hazel, picking at a loose nail on the set of bunk beds that she was lying on top of, and couldn't keep from picturing her as Evelyn had showed her, dying and screaming and bloody and dead.

_I have to stop, _I thought strongly. "We could go with the alternate universe thing," I said, just to fill the too much space between us with noise. "'We read the files' isn't going to get very far at this rate."

"I wonder where everything is with the XNID and Trust storylines," Hazel mused. "If I could just see Daniel I could pinpoint us within three seasons."

I laughed at the pure Hazelness of the statement. "Within three seasons is a start," I said. "At least we have a vague timeline already. Hammond's era."

"His era? That makes him sound way too important," Hazel joked.

"He is important," I argued, and then stopped dead.

"What?" Hazel snapped, seeing the probably stricken expression on my face.

"Security cameras, they keep security cameras all over the place, everyone's probably watching us," I said, feeling the blood drain from my face.

"Awesome," Hazel replied. "Okay, what story will explain everything we just said?"

"The truth," I replied, my voice sounding strained on purpose. This exchange was purely for the cameras, so they would believe whatever we said next. It didn't matter that I didn't even know the truth anymore.

"Really? I don't think they'll believe it," Hazel said, acting as much as I was.

"Maybe we can make them," I said distractedly, trying desperately to think of something that we actually _could _say.

Nobody came down the hallway to question us immediately. With the recent realization that it had been a really long time since I had had any sleep at all, my brain seemed to catch up with the rest of me in exhaustion. My eyelids felt physically heavy.

"So, I haven't slept since Naruto" (that could mean anything) "and there are beds in here, so I'm going to take advantage of the situation, okay?"

"Of course," Hazel said. "Top bunk. Mine."

"You thought that I was going to make you move?" I asked, the intended humor falling a little flatter than I had planned. "I'm going to sleep, don't throw anything at me."

Hazel held her hand over her heart in mock horror. I smiled, then lay down and closed my eyes. We were locked in a room on the Stargate Universe. Hazel was here with me. Evelyn was out of sight.

_For now. _

Hazel

I lay back in the bunk and decided that I would try to sleep as well. My head was swamped with ideas for what to tell the Stargate crew, but what I was really thinking about was how much I wanted to just stay here. Not in this uncomfortable, creaky bed, but on this universe. There were _infinite _possibilities, so much like the Whoniverse, and I could work my way in and still have a home somewhere to come back to. I could control my own life and be sure of everything.

But with _Evelyn _around, there was no chance of any of that. We would keep going and going, as long as we lived, most likely.

I had said no, back on that strange white plane, because I couldn't stand the idea of not being able to decide my own fate. I hadn't even thought of the idea that I wouldn't be able to design my own fate anyway. No matter what I did, what I wanted, I would eventually be uprooted from this place, like every universe before it.

_And that just means we have to make as much of our time here as we can, _I thought, determined to stave off the pessimism that was creeping into my mind. I thrived on positive thinking. Well, something like that. Maybe I would already be dead without it. No matter what, it was important, and I couldn't lose it.

The fact that I was starting to scared me more than anything.

I think that I fell asleep, because my watch said something way later than it should have been when a uniformed officer knocked sharply on the door next I knew. "Come with me," was the simple order issued.

I hesitantly left my backpack there, with my books and spare clothes and dozen or so pens and my laptop, with its "Shit Hazel likes" desktop background that Drew had made for me all those lifetimes ago.

They had better not move it.

Drew looked groggy and somewhat annoyed as we were led through a chilly, barren hallway to a larger room, which contained two men and a classic lie detector test.

Fun, fun. We had taken lie detector tests on the Torchwood universe, but we had been telling the actual truth there. Time to see if we were still up for it.

Drew

People with antisocial personality disorder can lie and pass a lie detector test. _At least they'll believe the truth when we say it, _I thought, not even thinking about risking anything else.

I didn't want to see what we were capable of anymore. Me, or Hazel. We used to thrive on pushing ourselves, testing ourselves. Now, the thought that we might just be able to pass that lie detector test scared me.

"We should be Vala," I whispered as quietly as I could to Hazel. It wouldn't mean anything to the test guys.

Hazel smirked, and I couldn't tell if she was planning to or not. "Good…what time of day is it, anyway?" she greeted as we were escorted into the room.

"Seven o'clock in the evening," one of the guys at the lie detector test said, earning a hard stare from the other one. The guy who had told us shrugged his shoulders. _What? It's the time, what harm can they do with that? _

Hazel and I quickly and discreetly reset our watches at the same time, and then looked at the test guys, waiting for instructions.

"Sit down," one of the guys said pleasantly. "You met with General Hammond earlier-"

"We know," Hazel cut in, so sweetly it was almost like she didn't know that she was interrupting.

She had gotten really fucking good at lying. Not even I could tell anymore.

"And we just need you to elaborate on some of the things you told us," the same guy said demurely. "We think that this will be the best way."

"Then let's get to it," Hazel said, sitting herself down in one of the empty chairs. I followed her lead. Our connections to the test were limited to a small cap on our fingers, like I had seen on many a medical drama.

"What's your name?" was the first exemplary question.

"Drew."

"Hazel."

"Okay, what are your legal names?"

"Insignificant," Hazel replied securely. The lie detector marker didn't move from its spot.

Insignificant. That sounded about right. Those names had been a part of other lives, might as well have been other people. In some universe, they were other people.

"Please tell us your legal names," the second suited guy sitting at the table asked us in a strong monotone.

"Andrew Wilson," I relented, because it didn't matter.

Hazel was silent for a long moment, but she finally caught my eye and said with shocking distaste "Alexandra Marin."

Had she become that detached from our old lives, that she didn't even have a connection to her own name? I hated to even let it cross my mind, but despite everything, she was starting to scare me.

My internal panic had caused the lie detector that I was attached to to scribble a bit on the paper.

"Is your name John Smith?" one of them asked me. "Answer yes."

"Yes?" I said uncertainly, and the lie detector scribbled all over the place.

"Good, good baselines," the other one said.

"Now what?" I asked, eager to get to the part where we got to rock their universe, and rid my head of all these uncertain feelings.

"What is your purpose here?"

"Uh- fun!" I said, to no protest from the lie detector. _The Doctor, Doctor, fun! _Doctor Who quotes always worked.

Hazel looked at me like she somehow didn't know what I was talking about, and then faced forward when one of them asked another question. Her quick glance left me with a dark, foreboding feeling. Something was wrong. Hell, everything was wrong but right now something was recognizably wrong.

"What exactly do you know about the Stargate program?"

"Everything," Hazel answered confidently.

"And how did you find this out?"

I smirked, knowing that we were about to confuse the hell out of them. "We've read all the files."

The lie detector audibly started scribbling all over the page.

This thing was actually pretty cool.

"Okay, so obviously we've established that the files are _not _the source of your program knowledge," said the taller, dark haired examiner in front of us, suddenly acquiring a snarky side.

"Nope," Hazel said confidently, almost smugly, as the lie detector remained steady. "By the way, what's today's date?"

"September eighth, 1999," the same guy who had told us the time recited, to another, less serious glower from his partner.

"So Catherine- that was her name, right?" I started, hoping to get into a rhythm with Hazel.

"Yep, Catherine called Daniel in and he quickly figured out that you needed a point of origin to open the Stargate, and they got it working, did the whole Abydos thing…" she continued easily.

"Changed actors," I said under my breath. "And then Major Carter and Jack met up, found Daniel on Abydos, realized how big the Stargate network actually was…"

"Went to engage Chulak because they were kind of idiots back then, ended up bringing back Teal'c…"

"The base took forever to get used to him, Kowalski caught a Goa'uld and died…"

"There was that whole ridiculous affair with the angry forehead people, that was solved with allergy medication…"

"They were all pretty useless at this point, weren't they? A bunch of other pointless missions…"

"They found the gate in Antarctica," Hazel reminded me.

"Right, that's important because of all the political crap with the Russians…wait, let's keep it chronological…"

"Why bother? Goa'uld crap, we kill a bunch of system lords, ally up with the Tollen and the Tok'ra, until the Tollen civilization gets…shit, that's too late."

"Yeah, I think they're working on Anubis right now, he becomes such a pain in the ass, it takes way too long for him to die with all that freaky shit from Daniel ascended."

"Stop!" one of the examiners called out in an audibly panicked voice.

"Did we lose you?" Hazel asked, sounding like the lively banter between us had flooded her system with endorphins.

"We could go on," I said, because there was no reason left to not bother screwing this whole thing up. "Let's start with Daniel getting ascended, Hammond resigns, O'Neill becomes general.."

"What?" the snarky test man asked, caught off guard.

"Not of import. It didn't last long. Then Amanda Weir, for the tiniest bit, and the they brought in Landry…"

"And Dr. Frasier…you know what, never mind, that's depressing. Colonel Mitchell becomes the head of SG1, then the Ori start their business…"

"Wait, they haven't even started with the Replicators, have they?" I cut in.

"Right, them. I hate them, though, it's inconsequential. The Ori are more fun, good luck with them, honestly. I can't imagine we'll be staying around that long."

"I hope they don't cut us off before we get to-"

"Okay, you're done," the taller test guy said before I could say the word 'Vala.'

The finger pieces were stripped off of us the second before Hazel put in the necessary "you both look very nice today, by the way," and the lie detector paper stopped scrolling.

"Guard!" the same man said. The door to the room opened and a young, female, Asian woman looked in. "Sergeant, please escort these two back to their cell."

Hazel

I was elated for no real reason whatsoever, too much so to question it. Drew and I were together, and everything was just falling into place, working perfectly like it always had.

We had always had everything going against us. Except each other. Except our relationship. They could take away physical contact, all communication, but I was beginning to believe that our minds were even linked in some way, that made things like that winning speech possible and assured us both that nothing would ever have to change.

I believed in that. I believed in us.

I was beginning to believe in an awful lot of things, nowadays. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all.

We reached the cell quickly enough, and once we were safely locked inside, I immediately grabbed my backpack, rifling through it one more time. I didn't touch the computer- I was surprised they hadn't confiscated it already, especially considering the fact that it was made in 2007.

It took a good few seconds for Drew and I to make eye contact, even in such a tiny space. But once we did, we both burst out laughing and didn't stop for a good minute, until our faces were red and our eyes tear-filled from the short oxygen supply.

"We're the best," I said, when I finally had the breath. Drew could only nod in response.

Drew

We calmed down quickly enough; we were both still exhausted despite the near-constant adrenaline rushes that this day had brought us. I ended up back on the bottom bunk, and there was something inherently wrong with that but also no other possible way it could be. Laying there, my eyelids closed, I came to two horrifying realizations almost at once. First, Hazel's lie detector pen had never moved. Not an inch. I couldn't remember if she had actually told a lie or not. Hell, maybe she was just as afraid to see it.

I stared up, willing my eyes to bore through the thin mattress she lay on and see inside her head. Had she lied? I honestly couldn't remember, and I wasn't about to disrupt the unconditional trust between us by asking.

The second realization was that I still couldn't remember what episode that Doctor Who quote was from.

That meant that I had probably never seen it.

Which meant that Evelyn had been in my head, right then, showing me what to say. And I hadn't even felt anything.

This was Stargate. Hazel was with me. But nothing had changed. We would never be free.

That wasn't even the worst part. People have always questioned their free will and the existence of deities, but if there was anyone else in history who had ever been positive of it, and feared the concept as much as I did, I would certainly like to speak with them for awhile.

It was different with Hazel. She had embraced Evelyn's existence, in a way, before she had even revealed herself. Maybe that had strengthened the idea with her. Maybe she didn't think anything had changed. She hadn't even hesitated to say yes back on the plane. Me, I had struggled. I was terrifyingly attached to my own free will, I realized. I hadn't wanted to give that up by switching my life to a predetermined path. I liked the freedom that the universes gave me, arbitrary as it may have been. But by now, I knew the score. I had no free will, and I was trapped. Any moment, she could come out and shift me away through the Abyss to another desecrate world and fuck with me until I could never be the same. The thought caused me to elicit a sharp gasp, the moment after which I heard Hazel's body moving around on the bunk above me.

"You okay?"

It was a complicated question. I was on this perfect universe, with my perfect soul mate. I was thinking deep and terrible thoughts about the whole royally fucked up situation that I had gotten myself into. It might not be fucked up at all, that was just me.

"When's this quote from? It's just him, as Tennant, saying "the Doctor, doctor, fun"?"

"Doctor Who?" The fact that Hazel needed to confirm it caused the already present pit to sink lower in my stomach.

"Yeah."

"I should know."

"It's okay," I said, my voice devoid of sincerity or emotion. "I don't know either."

Hazel climbed down from the top bunk and lay down next to me on mine. It wasn't nearly big enough for the two of us, but we made it work. "State your name, rank, and intention," Hazel said suddenly.

It fell into place. That was the first half of the slippery quote. "Right," I said.

"At least we're getting the same things," Hazel mused. She turned to me, suddenly very serious. "And isn't that all that's important, anyway, that we're on the same wavelength? We started this together and I want to finish it together."

"No matter what gets in our way," I mindlessly contributed. That happened to be a hell of a lot right now, but something about that statement just seemed perfect in its simplicity. If we could just turn it off, or not know, and be as happy as we were on that first universe- growing, changing, making sacrifices but it was so, so much better back then…life would be perfect. Perfect in randomness, in anonymity, in speculation. This, knowing exactly what was going on, was the opposite.

We just lay there for awhile, probably thinking of the same things. Maybe we weren't ready to put them into words. Maybe she wouldn't let us talk about them. But the companionable silence, this automatic rebuilding of our unbroken bridges, was enough for now.

Hazel

I loved being here with Drew. Sometimes, it seemed like I was willing to accept Evelyn being here too. It had been easier when she was only a concept within me, when I could adjust to a faceless deity messing around with my thoughts. But with a face and a name, it felt like an infringement of my privacy and an interruption to my life.

I was beginning to deal, though. At least, I thought so.

On the subject of interruptions, I could sense what was coming seconds before it happened. The room darkened. At the last instant I could, I seized Drew's hand in both of mine, and he locked his other hand on my arm. It was a grip of desperation.

Then we were in the Abyss, dark, temperatureless, lifeless.

Then we were somewhere else. It was almost as dark, but there was air to breathe and solid ground under our feet.

I slowly released Drew's hand, and as I did so, I realized that nothing had tried to tear us apart.

Maybe this would work out. Maybe Evelyn knew how we were meant to be, and never wanted to change what was already perfect.

In a few hours, I would find out that that particular presumption was the furthest thing from the truth that was possible.

Stargate Command: Mission Report

Designation: #30185

LIMITED CLEARANCE: Dr. Brian March, Dr. Shane West, Gen. George Hammond, Dr. Maj. Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Col. Jack O'Neill, Teal'c

Contributors:

Dr. Shane West  
>base psychological consultant<br>Dr. Brian March  
>base psychological consultant<br>Sergeant Jake Cortez  
>patrol officer<br>Dr. Maj. Samantha Carter  
>expert on everything important<p>

Overseer: Gen. George Hammond

Two youths were picked up inside Air Force owned, enforced territory at about 1100 hours on September 8th, 1999. The patrol team that spotted them conducted a thorough search and then brought them to the base for questioning because of their criminal knowledge of many aspects of the Stargate program.

The two (one male and one female- surveillance photos of both are in the file) were brought to a secure holding cell and then questioned by General Hammond personally. They revealed knowledge of the program that had a ridiculous amount to do with SG-1, so they were consulted about this matter while the youths were in the holding cell again.

Dr. Jackson suggested that we use a simple lie detector test to coax the truth out of them about their source for this information. (When questioned previously, they both claimed to have 'read the files'). Unfortunately, this test yielded little. The subjects' legal names were revealed to be Alexandra Marin and Andrew Wilson, which were searched in the national directory with any possible spelling and did not exist.

When asked about the supposed "files" that they had read, they claimed that they had been following the work of SG-1 since the creation of the Stargate program. They were able to cite several specific missions, many of which are not available to anyone except those with the highest level of clearance.

We suspected alien intervention, but when asked several impossible to mislead questions about their origin, it was confirmed that they were from Earth and had never seen or heard about any alien on their "homeworld." Both teenagers appeared to be of sound mind as well.

The situation was already peculiar, but Drs. March and West were forced to shut off the recording when the teenagers started offering stories about future missions of SG-1 in explicit detail. They seemed to have a limitless supply of such stories, and hinted at major future events that are very relevant to our current struggles. We called in Dr. Samantha Carter to investigate the theory of a possible alternate universe, but in her expert opinion, Andrew and Alexandra displayed none of the markers that suggested that theory.

Having more than enough information to work with for the moment, the teenagers were placed back into their original holding cell. The researchers on this case attempted to sort out the data, with Dr. Carter not involved because of her position in SG-1, and were completely unsuccessful. Andrew displayed typical signs of lying when asked a baseline question, but showed complete seriousness on the rest of his answers, even those relating to the future of SG-1 and the Stargate program.

At 1805 hours of the same day, Andrew and Alexandra disappeared from their cell. There is security footage of the process, and it shows that they were there one second, and gone half a second later.

Though this is infinitely puzzling to all scientists involved as well as the rest of SG-1, we conclude that this case must be dropped completely and the file made available only to those who were directly involved. Drs. March and West will be relocated and not allowed any connection with the Stargate program for risk of interfering in set event timelines. This is a precautionary measure only, and does not make true the youths' claims.

Sealed by General George Hammond

September 9th, 1999.

PART II

Somewhere else

_A few hours earlier, or days, or weeks; months... _

Auby

_Star Trek 2009_

I had always been one for big budget, incredible CGI, futuristic science fiction or otherwise movies. I had developed this taste in April of 2009, when I had gone to see the new Star Trek movie with Rennie and her sister Evelyn, who had decided to drag us both out even though we were skeptical about the blockbuster franchise.

In short, we had loved it. We had both been beginning to experiment with slash back then in eighth grade, and after being thoroughly awed by the movie, we went back to my house and stayed up half the night looking up the history of the Kirk/Spock pairing and reading old fanfiction. It was one of my most solid, truest memories of spending time with Rennie, really, because it was near the end of eighth grade when I was out of a sports season and able to focus entirely on this part of my life.

That incarnation of Star Trek had remained fondly in my memory, even after watching all three seasons of the original series and sampling a few others from the Novak's extensive DVD collection.

That was the summer before ninth grade. That, and Lost, and Supernatural, and captain's practices, and soccer camps, and writing and running…

And then everything changed.

I almost forgot about that summer until I was sucked away from the white _thing _where Evelyn had taken us and thrown onto the Star Trek 2009 universe.

I knew the second I walked into the faceoff between Kirk and Spock over Kirk cheating on the Kobiashi Maru.

I wasn't the only fifteen year old at Starfleet Academy. I only had to get through a month of ridiculously complicated coursework before the Romulans attacked.

It was insane. It was exciting. It was horrifying. I knew that I couldn't change much. I couldn't stop the Romulan ship and Nero from destroying Vulcan. I couldn't save a single one of them. But I could watch. I could witness this, as it was supposed to be.

I mostly stayed on the Enterprise, and about halfway through the plot actually acquired a position on the bridge. Data storage, which was really just the repetitive task of creating futuristic ZIP files with all the crap that the Enterprise learned in space.

I watched, and experienced, and I knew the whole time that that just wasn't fucking enough for me, but I stayed quiet all the same. This universe deserved its happy ending without me fucking it up. I had done enough of that, and maybe I still hadn't gotten over it.

This world, this collection of worlds, this collection of _everything, _could take care of itself. I was just being pulled along for the ride. I got winks from Kirk whenever I looked at him on the bridge, until Uhura casually reminded him that "she's illegal." Spock peered over my shoulder to look at my work one time.

Seriously, how many people can say that? I was in this for the experience this time. I watched a world implode- the grandest, most powerful, most terrifying thing I had ever experienced. I saw that huge hornet's nest of a ship get torn apart in that black hole.

I didn't interfere. I watched the very thing that had once filled me with that funny sort of elation that came from only pure _epicness _happen. This movie was larger than life. Did that make my life larger than life?

There was no answer to that question. I just watched; I just listened. I just existed, and that was enough, on this universe. Nothing was expected of me. I had made a choice; I wasn't going home. I knew that I would move on after this.

Nothing, no memory alteration would ever change the fact that this had all happened, and I was there. Maybe I had seen myself that day in the theater, with my blond hair in a neat ponytail, turned away from the screen and quietly moving files around with my touch pad. Maybe that wasn't how it worked at all.

The only conclusion that I had allowed myself to draw was the fact that universes like this were the reason I had decided to stay.

Back to the forest

Daniel

It was finally time.

The stand for the tablet that I had made was in place, the tablet firmly held in with glue bits from the same kind of rock that it was made from. It was covered in tiny ancient symbols, with flawless transitions from Tobias's handwriting to mine.

The magic that Tobias needed to summon hung thickly enough in the air for it to be tangible to me. He was standing a few feet in front of me, right behind the tablet secured to its platform.

He wasn't moving. I could see the tension in his back through the loose t-shirt that he was wearing.

I was nervous as well. I knew that I didn't have nearly as much of a right to be, but I had worked on this too. This was how it happened. This was how the end was decided- us or the Abyss.

No wonder we were stalling.

"Is there a time of day or anything that influences the magic?" I asked, hoping that it would prompt him to get started sooner. I'm patient; I strive for it. But I hated seeing him so nervous.

We had done everything we could. We had done everything right. And now, it was all up to him.

I voiced this, and Tobias turned around to give me a sheltered smile, tight-lipped but genuine. "I guess it's time then," he replied, trying and failing to sound sure of himself.

"You've got this." It was a vague and lousy endorsement, one that I never would have appreciated. But now, here, it really meant something.

"I know."

Tobias

I had been more sure about this last time. Last time had failed.

Well, not quite. Last time had brought Daniel.

And Daniel could be my strength now, I thought, incoherent with my nervousness. He helped me with this. He would be there, still, whatever happened.

I ran my hands over the well secured tablet and started clearly reciting what I suppose could be referred to as incantations, from the silly code, language thing that Evelyn and I had made up all those years ago. I had coded the magic on this world to that language, hoping that on its own, the language might draw Evelyn to me. It hadn't worked the first time, and now it only served as bitter nostalgia of a better time, but I was still sticking with it.

These words were all familiar, and rolled easily off my tongue. It was half spell and half prayer, which was fine because I got to decide what it would be.

I said the final sentence, brought my hand down hard on the center of the tablet, and prayed without words.

My vision blacked out for a second. I felt myself stagger, but I kept my grip firmly on the tablet. A hand on my shoulder- Daniel.

Suddenly, I couldn't just feel the magic, I could see it. The air was thick with it, shining like a million once-celled fairies. I could see it congregating, impressing itself into something bigger, something visible. All through me.

I heard Daniel gasp, right behind me and somewhere off in the distance. The portal was forming. It was only shards now, slowly contorting itself into a circle.

Suddenly, the magic was being depleted from the air even faster, and there was a black, so black that it was beyond black, hole in the center of the magical ring.

I had created another portal.

Now, all I could do was wait. Daniel's grip was tense on my shoulder, but I could scarcely feel it through my concentration.

There was something coming. I could feel it. I called for Evelyn, without words, over and over again. I prayed for her, in the language of magic and the language of my real life.

The figure- human, I already knew- was coming closer. Almost close enough to see.

With one last push from me, she came tumbling out.

As soon as the one figure was on the Forest floor, I had to close the portal, let the magic release its grip on me. My endurance was nearly exhausted- staying that focused and that powerful for so long inevitably did that.

Last time, I had fallen, and bruised my shoulder on the hardened dirt. This time, Daniel caught me before I could fall, and, neither of us bothering to waste words, walked over to the body lying on the floor in front of us. I could tell that I was about to pass out. There was blood rushing through my head, my vision was spinning, my legs somehow still moving through the general weakness that had taken over my body.

Daniel released me to awkwardly fall to my knees beside it. Her.

He was the first one to touch her, gently turning the figure around so I could see her face.

It was Evelyn. Asleep, with shorter, lighter hair and lighter skin, but Evelyn all the same.

There were no words that I could say for this. It was perfect. In the end, it had worked out.

Daniel was next to me, somewhere, in my mind, saying "good job" and other precious sweet nothings. All I could focus on was her. Her eyelashes were as long as ever, her face heart-shaped, the same freckles, lighter now but still visible, adorning her cheeks.

This was Evelyn. She was here. I had done the impossible.

I didn't think another word. I might have been unconscious before my head hit the ground.

Evelyn

Something was happening. Something different.

The entire Abyss seemed to be different, somehow. Lighter, freer. That couldn't be true.

For the first time in what might as well have been forever, I turned away from my window. I turned away, and suddenly lost any concept of having a physical form that I could believe in.

But somewhere, impossible to tell how close or how far away, there was another light.

I was used to seeing scattered bits of light, like far, far away lightning, and once it was gone it was impossible to tell if I had seen it at all. This light? It was brighter, sharper. And it stayed.

But, no, that's not quite the word for it, it was getting closer every second. Or perhaps I was getting closer to it? Regardless, the opening was enlarging.

Soon, I could see out, and it was still all light. Light with vaguely defined shapes, nearly blinding me when I was so used to darkness.

I was heading for the light, of someone else's will. I was terrified. I was elated.

The second before I hit the light, I reached back through my window on a whim and pulled _them _through with me. Through the Abyss to my destination.

The second I hit the circle of light, the world was white and then dark again.

Daniel

Tobias woke up first, luckily. I didn't know how I would have talked to Evelyn.

Tobias didn't even try to talk to me. I could see him jolt as he awoke to the bright sun in his face, and in the next instant he looked over toward Evelyn.

I watched and refrained from speaking as Tobias sat up slowly, probably still weak from the mental exertion, and took Evelyn's thin, light skinned hand, staring at her intensely. I stood leaning on the cool tablet, alternating my gaze between Tobias and Evelyn, and the tiny scorch mark on the ground where the portal had been.

Now what? This had been our task. I had been devoted to this since the day I had come back to life. She was here. Could we even get off this world? What was there to do now? What was going to happen to Tobias and me?

In a few more minutes, it no longer mattered. Evelyn woke up.

Hazel

_The Forest_

It was really, really dark here. Enough sunlight cut through the trees to tell us that it was daytime somewhere up there, but it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of me.

"We could try climbing them," I suggested, pausing to reflect on the fact that this particular suggestion could be construed as second nature for me.

"We could try sitting here until someone comes and does something with us," Drew countered.

"We could burrow underground like meerkats and see what's on the other side of this planet," I replied, to show him exactly how ridiculous _his _suggestion had been.

"Okay, okay," he said placating. "How about I walk in one direction and you walk in the other, and we stay in voice range? That way we'll be able to find our way back to this spot, just in case it might be important," he suggested with more common sense showing itself.

"Sure," I replied, a little apprehensive about going off on our own after some miracle had just kept us together for once, but I knew that he shared these fears. I drew comfort in that, and in the fact that no matter what, we would fight until the world ends to get back to each other.

That was such a pointless thought. We were just exploring someone's stupid magical forest.

Here, somehow, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I felt freer than I had since I the last universe in which I had power over air. Dark and mysterious as it was, the forest held a certain calm allure for me, that didn't change as deeply as I pressed into it. The undergrowth seemed to be even everywhere, as well as the depth of the tree canopy. It was dimly lit everywhere, but there were no shadows. It was like a single repeating square of forest, going on forever.

"Drew!" I suddenly called, just so that we could assure each other that we were still there, somewhere in this overwhelmingly dark, endless expanse of forest.

There was no answer.

I _had _been walking for awhile. Maybe I should have checked sooner.

Maybe splitting up was a bad idea. Maybe we should have gone together.

I had stopped completely, and touched the rough bark of the tall tree next to me just for some tactile sensation, just to prove that this was really a place, not an illusion; my life, not a dream.

I turned around to the direction that I had come from. At least, I thought that it was the right direction…I had never really learned any sort of tracking, except on the Lost universe where it was a ridiculously easy art. Here, in the dark, I couldn't make out my own former footsteps.

The trees looked the same in every direction. Maybe I hadn't been walking straight in the first place.

It was only then that I remembered the compass that I had in my bag. I took it out and immediately got a reading, North being the direction that I was pretty sure I had been traveling before.

Pretty sure, and becoming less sure by the minute.

_The second you split up from Drew, you begin to doubt yourself, _some little voice inside me scolded. It was true. And it had never used to happen. On the Animorphs and Teen Titans universes I had missed him like crazy, but functioned. And it didn't affect my actions or performance where it counted.

After Yeiverica, after we had grown so much closer in so many ways, it was harder. But by then, Lost, Avatar, I had had my belief in what I then called the Universe. I informally prayed to it. I _trusted _it.

I hadn't done a lot of trusting in the past several years, even before the universes. And I was headed on a one way trip back to that policy, certainly for the better.

I started walking South, looking down at the pin-straight compass needle every few steps.

Auby

_The Forest_

I was watching, when it happened. Watching, just like I had been doing all universe.

All universe. That was certainly a new term. The two Spocks that this movie had were saying goodbye. Then, in an instant, I was wrapped up in the dark of the Abyss.

"Umph." I landed on the ground _hard, _as though I had actually fallen from ten feet up. I could barely see.

"Hello?" I called. Probably not smart. I was too panicked to think straight.

"Auby?"

I only recognized the voice after a moment, and relief washed over me. "Drew!"

"Follow my voice!"

"I think I see you," I said, my voice getting quieter as his silhouette became clearer.

I didn't even realize how cold I was in a t-shirt until he hugged me. I squeezed him back fiercely and for a few seconds, I didn't even care where we were.

He ruined it with a badly timed "So, do you know where the hell we are?"

"Not a clue, I just got here," I said. "Have you been here long?"

It was a very cordial, polite conversation. Like we hardly knew each other. Like we hadn't shared a hotel room for months. Like we hadn't saved lives together. Like we had never kissed.

"Hazel and I dropped in something like ten minutes ago."

Ah. That was the reason.

"Speaking of…" he muttered. He turned around and shouted "Hazel!"

The forest around us swallowed up the echo. There was no response.

"Crap. We split up to go in different directions so we could find whatever we were supposed to find here more quickly, but we were supposed to stay within hearing distance…do you mind if we head back that way?"

"Of course not," I replied smoothly, following Drew's fast pace down the trail. "So…how have you been?"

Even from behind him, I could see his face gain a hard edge at my innocently intended question. He then proceeded to skillfully deflect it. "It's only been a few days for me since I saw you last. What about you?"

"Months," I replied. That was a weird feeling. Weeks of academy work and space travel and being in that generally awesome situation hadn't given me much time to think about what had happened…back there. For Drew, it was still fresh. Still raw.

And it wasn't like I was entirely sure of that decision. Still.

"Where were you?" Drew asked. "And hey, does that make you sixteen already?"

"I don't know. I think I gave up on the whole time thing, especially when I had to deal with the whole Star Date thing," I said, smiling wickedly at my universal implication.

Drew grinned at me. "You're kidding!" he said, sounding honestly excited for me. "Star Trek?"

"2009 movie alternate universe and everything," I replied.

"Lucky," he said, obviously intending it to be in a teasing tone. I could detect a sharp note of bitterness in there. Maybe it was just that I had gotten this particular universe before he had had a chance.

"So where have you been for those few days?" I asked him, fairly concerned.

He smiled, mouth closed, and it turned out bitter. Then he stopped trying. "Have you ever heard of Togainu no Chi?"

"Oh my God," I responded automatically, flashing back to what little I remembered of the one episode of that horrible anime that Rennie had manipulated me into watching. That universe…if there was one place I knew that I would never, ever want to go, it was there. And Drew had been. "I'm sorry," I said, able to think of nothing else.

"It wasn't for very long," Drew assured me, taking back control of himself. "Less than a day or so. And then Hazel and I met up and spent like eight hours on the Stargate universe?"

"It took me four months just to watch that show, and you only got eight hours there? That blows," I said, trying to make up for the heaviness of the mention of Togainu no Chi with snark.

Drew took an extra quick step forward and called for Hazel again, just as loudly. We waited, holding our breath for a moment, for a response.

Hazel and I had had our differences. We had never really reconciled them. I was the one who had wronged her, and she deserved a proper apology. She deserved to see my side. So I wanted to find her, too.

Hazel

I was still walking back in the direction of Drew when I heard voices. They were coming from my left- East, my compass told me. I paused in my tracks for a moment. The vague, distant promise of Drew, or real, living, audible humans? It took me only a second to decide. I could come back for Drew. East held more promise.

I changed directions, and in a few steps through the forest, sunlight blinded my contracted pupils. The ground changed under my feet, from rocky, leafy undergrowth to smooth, short grass. I could feel the sun on my face, the air marginally warmer.

I was out of the forest. But how hadn't I seen this coming? It had looked like the Forest would go on forever.

I could tell that this place was the source of the elusive voices as soon as I opened my eyes. There were three of them, standing in the middle of the large clearing that I had just stepped into.

The clearing appeared to be perfectly circular, with the forest darkening the edges. Its clarity was marred by the fairly large house off-center of it, a house that looked like it belonged in a suburb.

I had to blink a few times before I regained enough vision to see the other people in the clearing as clearly as I needed to. Evidently they hadn't even noticed me.

It took another few seconds of staring for me to realize that I recognized one of them. There was a girl with short blond hair in some sort of sundress with her back turned to me, and a tall young man with unruly black hair facing her and holding her hand. I could tell those vibes in an instant.

But the other boy, straight dark hair on caramel skin, standing awkwardly back from the couple, shifting constantly around, like he wasn't sure if he was too close or too far away…I took one step closer. It was definitely Daniel.

The absolute unfamiliarity of the place was surprising. This clearing, with its single house, appeared to be pretty important. So in that case, if this was a universe I knew, I should know about it.

If this was a universe I knew…had they changed the rules on me again?

_Not they. Evelyn. _

Eager to get out of my own head, I walked forward a bit and called "Daniel?"

Daniel, who was only ten yards or so in front of me now, turned around sharply. His rounded, sometimes almost young looking face was a solid mixture of curiosity and apprehension, which was just as I remembered him.

He took a few seconds to talk, as though he was struggling to remember who I was.

Then I remembered. I knew that my brain was always a bit fuzzy after transitioning, but I had never recognized it while it was happening. Now, I was aware of a glaring error in judgment that I had just made.

Daniel was dead. At least, he was as far as I knew. He was supposed to be dead. Drew had told me…had it ever really happened at all? Had Evelyn been messing around with him even then? Maybe it was my own mind playing tricks on me. Hard as I tried, right now, I could hardly remember anything from the pseudo-universe that she had sent us to after Naruto.

Daniel was as frozen and shocked as I was, at least. His eyes were questioning, but intensely defensive at the same time. Like this was his property, and I wasn't supposed to be here.

Maybe this was heaven. Or hell. Or something in between. I didn't remember dying…maybe that was for the best.

But I remembered moving from Stargate to here distinctly. An ironclad grip on Drew's arm. Drew's warm, living arm.

"Hi…Hazel," Daniel said slowly, inflicting just enough of his obvious puzzlement in his tone to make it seem like a question. At his words (evidently they hadn't heard me call his name), the two other teenagers standing in the center of the clearing turned toward me, and I got my second great shock of this particular minute.

The face on the girl was familiar, too familiar. I felt an invisible knife through my stomach upon seeing it, and then grew confused. It wasn't her…the face was too soft, too demure, the skin too light…

I stepped closer.

It was definitely Evelyn. A wide eyed, raw, silent, different Evelyn, but still the same girl.

The same girl Drew and I had all but worshipped in elementary school. The same girl who had sent us here, willingly or not. The same girl who had revealed herself to us on the plane, and given us that impossible choice.

I certainly had a lot of questions for her.

The boy facing Evelyn, who was now smoldering in my direction (not in a romantic sense- more like he actually wanted to set me on fire) said, without even glancing at Daniel, "do you know her?"

"I-" Daniel seemed like he was trying to think of some elaborate explanation. Couldn't. "Yeah."

"How did you get here?" he asked, still staring me down.

"Same way as always," I said, choosing to be cryptic. Nothing this guy had shown me so far was any sort of reason to trust him. He was glaring at me and holding hands with Evelyn Novak. Hell, that alone was more than enough.

"Through the Abyss," Daniel translated, probably unnecessarily. I could detect a micro pause in his speech before the last word. I filed that away for future reference, not really sure what to do with it.

I tried staring the other guy down. I almost got obnoxious and asked Daniel his name. But this guy, I thought, would see obnoxious as cowardly. The last thing I wanted to be perceived as.

Luckily, no one had to say the next words in this conversation, because after a moment's pause, Drew came stumbling out of the surrounding forest into the well lit clearing.

Another person was close behind. Auby, I decided, the moment she followed only a step behind Drew to where the rest of us were. I felt a pang of unreasonable jealousy for her. Drew and _I_ should have come out together. Drew and I should be facing this. She didn't need to be involved at all.

Auby was an inconvenience. Drew and I had only been able to work together with Daniel on the Naruto universe because he was so independent and unique. Auby was different. She was clingy, she needed support. Needed people.

I didn't really like being anyone's people.

Drew met my eyes, and I hoped that my expression was letting him know that something strange was brewing here.

I think he understood once he caught sight of Daniel.

Drew

The second I laid eyes on him, I blinked, hard. Hard enough that I was seeing odd swirls behind my eyes when I finally opened them. He was still there. It was still him.

I was already flashing back to Daniel as I had last seen him as he was now, on dewy grass in a t-shirt on a chilly night, bleeding out on the lawn of a school. His face in shadow, his body contorted in on itself.

And then, I saw him as I had last seen his body. Eyes almost on fire, with Evelyn's obvious, livid anger, his normally emotionless face sadistic.

What I was seeing now was so, so impossibly different from all of that. He looked observably, unarguably real, with a mellow but guarded expression, wearing a regular shirt and jeans.

I tore my eyes away and looked at Hazel, silently asking for further understanding. One second of her looking back told me that she knew what was going on as much as I did.

But she hadn't seen him on the ground there, dying, dead? She hadn't been on the Togainu no Chi universe when Evelyn had freshly attempted to ruin every part of me, destroy me from the inside out, through Daniel.

Hazel knew that there was something wrong. But no way did she understand.

With no help from that side of the clearing, I took a moment to glance back at Auby, whose face was unusually cryptic. She looked confused, which was expected, but not shocked. It was more like she was trying to decide who he was, whether he was the Daniel that she had once known. Was he? Even I didn't know. But I couldn't be counted on for any of these answers.

As one, Hazel and I started moving forward to meet up with the group in the middle, Auby on my heels.

Auby

Well, this was certainly a different sight.

First of all, Hazel. It really would have been nice to not have to interact with her anymore.

Evelyn. My best friend's sister, who at some points had been almost like my sister as well. She looked different, though. Strange. Her face and hair were paler, and instead of the wild, flowing waves that her hair had been when I had seen her last, on that white place, it was styled in a straight bob, cupping her heart-shaped face. She was standing, expressionless, holding the hand of a guy I had never seen before.

I was slightly used to the Evelyn related weirdness by now, though. The other familiar face, the one that made me want to stop short, pause time and just think about for awhile, was Daniel Adams.

Daniel. Kate's brother. Once, my friend, even though he might not have considered me such. We had had one real conversation in our entire lives.

And yet, I had memories of a whole life with him. Implanted by Evelyn, somehow. Years and years of us. Years that we hadn't actually shared. Years that he wouldn't even remember like I did.

I wanted to find someplace quiet and talk to him for hours. I didn't want to talk to him at all.

Drew started the impending conversation, as though that was his role. "Hi, there," he said casually. He didn't leave time for anyone to respond before lightly demanding "what's going on here?"

Evelyn and the other boy had both turned toward us by now, a blank expression on her face, a guarded expression on his.

Daniel spoke up. "We just…God, it's such a fucking long story…"

It was only then that I even remembered that Daniel was supposed to be dead. Daniel in this reality had, until this point, been entirely theoretical for me. Only now, seeing him standing in front of me on a world that was clearly not Earth, did I realized that he was a traveler like us, and dead, and here.

"You came with me," Evelyn replied, her voice relaying a surprising level of sweet innocence. "I pulled you through."

Well, that didn't actually help at all.

"Alright, so, the Abyss," Daniel offered, after clearly spending some time thinking through the story that he planned to tell us. "Apparently, it's where people like us go when they die."

"Evelyn was a traveler?" I asked, jumping to conclusions.

"Yeah," Daniel replied distantly. "Tobias calls us wanderers, I think that I actually prefer that," he added. "But Tobias invented this way- you don't need mechanics, that would take forever- of getting us out. Me. And just now, Evelyn."

That was a bit much to take in. it was hard to piece together. Had Evelyn been in the Abyss like that, dead or whatever, this whole time? Had she been dead in the Abyss when she showed us that parallel universe and everything?

Apparently, Hazel was thinking along the same lines and had to get a word in edgewise. "So this is the same Evelyn that we saw?" It was phrased as a question almost as an afterthought.

"Yes, I am still me," she replied, her voice unusually quiet and oddly formal. "I watched over you, when I was in the Abyss." She giggled in a way that struck the line between childish and sociopathic. "I ran your lives, I controlled you."

I could see Drew tense up in front of me. I remembered what he had told me in the Forest- Togainu no Chi. That had been Evelyn's doing.

According to her, this had all been Evelyn's doing.

It still didn't make sense, but I was beginning to believe that I knew enough.

Hazel

We ended up staying in the house in the middle of the forest, because with Evelyn in mortal form, apparently there was nowhere to go. It was a week of tense conversations and awkward moments. It was only a week, but we all knew by now that even a day on a new universe could feel like a lifetime.

I didn't have any powers here, which annoyed me. Usually, when there was any magic around or superheroes all over the place, I was given the power that I had dreamed of since childhood- to manipulate the wind.

But then, that had been given to me by Evelyn. It was an odd sensation, to see the person who had once had so much power over me walking around this same house like a ghost. She always seemed oddly detached from this reality, with no sense of time or self.

It was weird having all those people around, too. In the past, I had always been around Drew, and people that I needed to keep certain things from. For instance, many of the teams that I had been with over the past few years hadn't known that I was from another universe. Here, everyone was in the same boat. I felt oddly secure among these other displaced misfits.

Returning to awkward moments, I first spoke to Auby on our second day in the Forest. I said "hi." She responded with "hi."

The third day was different.

Auby and I were watching a DVD in the house, because it wasn't like we could spend every single second of our time trying to figure out what to do next. When we came to a long, grueling sex scene, Auby turned the volume and tentatively asked "Can we talk?"

"Yeah?" I questioned, wondering what on Earth she had to say to me.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you, back on Lost. I really, honestly am, and that's the last time I'm going to say that."

"Okay," I responded, more of an automatic reaction to the shock of her random apology.

"I don't expect your forgiveness. I want to be over it, but I'm not, even though sometimes I feel like an entirely new person these days."

"Tell me about it," I said figuratively, continuing with "Same here. I look back to the beginning, those first few universes, and it was a different girl living that life."

"Would that girl have held up better or worse than you are, here?" Auby asked.

I thought for a moment, not answering.

"I think I would have done better back then. I was tougher. I'm in a better spot, emotionally, now, I guess, but half the time I just want this all to settle down and give me a truly normal life," she rambled.

"Most of the time, I feel like my life was never truly normal," I replied honestly. "I think I'm doing better than I would have, back then. I was tougher too, more adventurous. But all this shit right now, this place…that's not what we need now. We need brains, and patience, and creativity. That's what I've gotten out of this."

"Good for you," Auby replied, unable to suppress a note of bitterness. Then, unexpectedly she smiled. "And that bit about never having a normal life? Tell me about it."

I chuckled lightly, and seemingly satisfied, Auby turned the volume back up so we could watch the guy admit to the younger girl that he had just had sex with that when he wasn't hooking up with her, he was married.

It wasn't the longest conversation that we had ever had. Not the deepest, even. But it was certainly the most important.

Drew

I woke up at dawn, due to the lack of shades or anything remotely sun-covering on the windows. Or in the sky for that matter. Once the sun rose above the tops of the farthest trees I could see, wham, it was daytime.

Seconds after I woke up and became aware of my surroundings, I felt Hazel stir beside me. I'm the kind of person who wakes up when the sun is shining straight on my face. Hazel is the kind of person who wakes up early all the time, even without such convincing incentive.

"I had the weirdest dream last night," she muttered, her eyes slitted and barely open, her voice rough from sleep.

"Our lives are pretty damn weird, that title must really mean something," I replied lightly, turning away from the cursed sun and burying half my face into the pillow, one eye open towards Hazel.

"It deserves it," she says, making no more moves to get up than I was. "It's almost scary to think about."

_Scary? My nightmares are scary. Does a wild faced Evelyn, bent on revenge, ever visit you in your sleep? How many times have you seen Daniel die while your eyes were closed? _I thought, surprising even myself with the uncharacteristic bitterness. Hazel had seen her share of shit, too. I wasn't being fair.

Besides, the little things like regular dreams could be scary in their own way. "You're making me nervous. What was it?"

"I dreamed," she began dramatically, "that we were in the Inception universe."

"That sounds like it would be fun," I said, before I fully comprehended her statement. "Wait- no- oh _fuck. _And you dreamed that? Ugh, I'm going back to sleep before my brain blows a fuse. This place is more than enough for me. Inception would be over the limit."

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling," Hazel replied with such instant, perfect smoothness that I laughed. British accent and everything.

"'Darling' yourself," I muttered, pushing her gently on the shoulder. Hazel giggled, stayed on the bed just looking at me for a moment, and then made to stand up.

"What are you doing? It's so fucking early," I mumbled, half to Hazel and half to the pillow.

"Don't you remember what Daniel told us yesterday? Time is really weird here. A lot of environmental stuff is calibrated to Earth and similar worlds, but the shape of the viable living space makes it so there's only about eight hours of sun every day, all year."

"Too confusing too early," I said shortly, to the pillow now and ignoring Hazel.

She jumped back onto the bed, jostling me. I think I attempted to give her some sort of death glare, but I had no idea how effective it was. "Get up, sleepyhead," she teased. "I could use more Inception quotes on you. Or more sappy terms of endearment. Or I could actually tell you about that dream," she teased, playing with my hair from above me.

"God no," I muttered sarcastically, having no better way to say the _can we please never change _that was running through my head.

Daniel

Glances. Moments. Heartbeats. That was all Tobias and I had now, with the tranquility Forest newly crowded with people and the overwhelming problem of Evelyn. That was all we had to remind ourselves of all we had been this past month or more, and in one of those precious heated moments, I finally got the feeling that Tobias might not want to remember at all.

He was sitting with Evelyn by the fire as I brought out the refilled water bucket. What I received from him was not a glance, but a glare. He didn't want me anywhere near her.

Sometimes, I selfishly missed Tobias. I wasn't even sure if it was him or just us that I missed, but this new situation was acutely different in every way.

Tobias spent almost all of his time with Evelyn, trying to figure her out and precipitating them getting to know each other again. It hurt me to watch how hard he had to work at it. At least, it sure looked difficult for him.

I didn't talk to the others very much. From that crucial moment on the Naruto universe, we had gone off in such wildly different directions; it was like they didn't know me anymore.

Nobody knew how to get off this world, we all quickly found out, but for the moment, it looked like everyone was content to stay.

But sometimes, despite the fact that I barely knew most of these people, I wondered if I was the only one who knew that most of us would be bored beyond recognition of this place soon. Tobias was easy enough. From the time that I had known him, he had had his gaze on something far-off in the distance and nearly impossible, and had dedicated every bit of himself to it. Here, now, with Evelyn safe, he didn't have that. Even with Evelyn here, he wouldn't last long. Hazel was almost as bad. She needed her physical and mental freedom more than almost anything. She was a wanderer by nature, an inquisitive explorer, and she couldn't function any other way. For now, she seemed content to treat this as a vacation, catch up with people, and explore the house, the clearing and the nearby woods. Neither of them would last much longer. And none of us would last forever.

I was eager for someone else to realize that before it was too late.

On the fourth day after we had opened the portal, Auby started a conversation with me. Like me, she had kept to herself a lot of the time on the Forest, wary of Evelyn and making sure to give Hazel and Drew their space. I could tell how it could be seen as logical for us to end up talking sooner or later.

I was in- the room with the books. I had no idea what we were actually supposed to be calling it. I was reading. Auby came in, picked up a novel seemingly at random, and sat down across from me. She didn't even bother to open it before speaking. "So, how are you?"

Well, that was a heavy opening question. "Fine, how are you?" I figured that was acceptable, because there was no way that she would have simply sought a conversation about my mental well-being.

I was right. "So, how much do you even know, about, everything that happened?" she asked.

A better question. "Almost nothing. I know Evelyn was controlling us, or something, but not me after I died, and then she revealed herself to you?" It came out as a question. Come to think of it, I wasn't too sure about anything.

"So you don't know what happened then?" she asked. I shook my head, and she continued. "Because I think you should know. You were a part of all of it, in some way, I guess."

"How so?" I prompted, setting down my book.

"Well, first she took us to this place. It was her own place, I guess, kind of like the Forest is Tobias's. It was all white…that doesn't matter. But it was all like-" she took a deep breath, appearing to compose herself. "She said she would give us a choice, the life we were living or a normal life. We all chose this, obviously."

I nodded in response, interested but waiting for the relevance.

"In the AU- sorry, jeez, I still call it that in my head." I couldn't figure out if Auby's rambling was intended for me or just for her. "Well, I don't really know how to say this."

"Nothing you say could possibly offend me," I assured.

"We spent a lot of the time together. Together together. As in, years. And I know it has to sound so strange, but…I have those memories. I don't expect anything to change, but I really needed you to know," she spilled out.

That was…unexpected. "I- um- thank you, I guess…I mean, I'm not, like, interested back, if you even are…damnit, I'm shit at this, I've never done this before…"

"It's okay," she cut me off. "I get it, it doesn't really matter, it's just weird having that in my head, and having you here, but not knowing about it…thanks. I'll see you later," she said abruptly, walking out of the room before I really had a chance to respond.

I hadn't lied. That revelation had been surprising. But I was left with the nonsensical feeling that I had done something horribly, horribly wrong.

Tobias

I had never thought it would be like this.

On the nights when I was just getting to bed after not sleeping for a few days, before Daniel, was the only time that I ever allowed myself to think about Evelyn actually _being _back.

She was so different, and I tried as hard as I could not to let it bother me. Sometimes, she leaned into touches, and sometimes she rejected them. Sometimes, she liked being near me, and sometimes it seemed like she didn't even know me.

She talked, when she wanted to. In cryptic not-quite sentences, never quite answering as the question or statement had been intended. She would give a word usually, or a phrase, that only created more questions.

I hadn't known Daniel at all before his stint in the Abyss. But I could tell that Evelyn's had changed her, mentally and physically.

And as much as I didn't want to think about it, perhaps permanently. Daniel had taught me to face the hardest truths. This was definitely one of them. That I had done everything I possibly could, and gotten her back, but not really. I had gotten this shell. A shell, no, so much more than that, but still less, somehow, than the Evelyn I had known.

I still loved her. I knew that I would love anything that she ever became. But unfortunately, this state of her was a trial every single minute.

We slept in the same room, because it had been that way forever. She slept, but never well. She would wake me, still asleep herself, flailing and gasping as though there was no air around. I forced myself to watch over her. Sometimes she moved, and sometimes she lay terrifyingly still, breath still off, frozen. As though she was remembering being trapped in a place where she was unable to move.

Her nightmares were expectedly and remarkably similar to Daniel's.

Evelyn

_I kicked a wall, for the first and last time ever. _

_It fucking hurt. _

_It was effective, though. All the shock and anger of being in wherever the hell I was now evaporated instantly as I pulled off my sneaker to examine my left foot. My big toe was absolutely throbbing. The last thing I needed was a broken fucking toe…_

"_Hey, are you okay?" An attractive guy about my age jogged up to me, stopping a respectful few feet away. _

"_Yeah, just…stupid," I replied, wincing as I put my sneaker back on. _

"_Well, then." He nodded. "I'm Tobias."_

"_Evelyn." _

The Forest looked very different from here.

The vision that I had had in the Abyss had been overwhelming. I could look at anything, and see its past and the plans for it for the future. I could see the world forming every time I looked at it. I could learn everything about a person in an instant.

Here, it was harder. I could only see through human eyes, which I was beginning to realize were inadequate in so many ways. I could only see in one direction, only focus on one thing at a time. I could only see the surface level of whatever was in front of me.

I felt blinded.

I felt shunned, as well, by the people that I had led here. Hazel simply avoided me. I often caught a curious glance from Auby. Drew also looked at me, but more deeply, as though he was looking for something that he wasn't sure existed.

I never needed to tell them that I had been the one to pull them through. They figured it out on their own, with Tobias's self constructed knowledge.

Sometimes, I could think. I could examine the people and things around me, frustrated with my blind humanity, but seeing. But the rest of the time, most of the time, I was simply lost in my humanity. I has become accustomed to being something bigger. More important. More influential. Now, here, human, I was nothing. I had no purpose. I had been brought back here to have a life, but this was no life. I had had a life, back in the Abyss, dead.

The entire world was imaginary, I occasionally decided. I was still there. Still in control.

Not here. Trapped, and powerless.

Auby

After just a few days, I started wishing for home. One more day later, I started wishing that I was just anywhere else.

I took to avoiding Daniel after our agonizing two minutes of conversation, in which he heartily turned me down and made me feel like an idiot at the same time. I barely spoke to Hazel and Drew, because they were always together and I had some social sense. Drew looked almost uneasy when Hazel was next to him and I was around, presumably because of everything that had happened between us on the Supernatural universe almost a year ago. We probably should discuss that, to make sure that he placed as little significance as I did on it. It was a thing. It was no longer a thing.

What little time I got alone with Hazel passed in short, sharp clashes. If we were alone in a room together after that first time, we would exchange conversation. Found out where each other had been. I had fresh stories from Star Trek, she had new stories from all the universes that she didn't mind talking about. I suppose it could have looked like we were friends. In my head, I wasn't sure where we were anymore.

Tobias and Evelyn were another story altogether. I watched Evelyn sometimes, just cataloging differences, the changes in her. There was no way for me to be sure if she was the same Evelyn as I had ever known. But sometimes she seemed it, when she laughed in that same voice, or smiled with that same face. She brooded, though. I was used to Evelyn looking either happy or calm but mildly amused most of the time. This Evelyn was completely different. It was like she switched on and off. She was there, smiling, talking, doing _something, _or she just wasn't. It was fairly unnerving.

I watched Daniel and Tobias interact. Maybe that was rude, or stalker-ish, but at least it was accidental. I saw Daniel hesitate when he met Tobias's eyes, I saw Tobias always turn away first and inevitably search for Evelyn. I could sense the guilt he had, but other times, there was clear love and trust between them. They had a perfect partnership that rivaled Hazel and Drew's. Silent conversations, the slightest, most meaningful touches I had ever borne witness to, even the way they looked at each other. At first I didn't know what to make of it, but it wasn't too hard to see after awhile.

I got restless quickly. There wasn't much to do in the clearing or the Forest, and even if everyone else was content just to hang out and catch up, I didn't seem to fit into their plans. Hazel and Drew. Tobias and Evelyn. Daniel usually portrayed himself as being pretty much off limits. Sometimes, I remembered what I would have given to have a decent conversation with any one of these people about certain topics a few years ago, back when I had been lonely, two-faced, confused, and normal enough for that world.

Hazel

When it came, I didn't want it.

It was different this time. I don't know if it was because of the nature of the cross or because of the Forest. But this time, we were given warning. The sky turned stormy, and then just plain dark.

I grabbed my backpack, and seconds later we were sucked away. All of us, presumably in different directions. I didn't know what would be left of the Forest when the darkness cleared. If it managed to clear at all.

I landed, and before even opening my eyes, I drilled myself for a new focus. A new experience. A new world.

Again.

The first one that I resented from the start.

Part iii

In the interim

Rennie

_Before_

They were all together, one that one elusive spot that it seemed I could never describe. Tobias had been there alone, but now they were congregating. My own characters were turning against me.

I took my hands away from the keyboard, and an instant later something was compelling me to put them back, keep writing, keep creating these lives.

But no. I wouldn't! The force that drove this story responded to me, not the other way around.

I squeezed my hands in fists tightly for a few seconds, fingernails digging into my palms. Then, I replaced my hands on the keyboard.

Hit enter.

The writing was choppy and forced, painful for my creative spirit and my muse. But this was my story. I could do what I wanted with it.

I changed everything in the next one hundred words.

I sent them all off in different directions, to wait for new plots to form. They would come, in time.

Then, in a bad decision that I obviously wasn't thinking clearly about, I added yet another name.

Rennie Novak showed up in a new world with Auby.

I was going to regret this.

That was my last concrete thought before the story began writing itself once again.

Daniel

Code Geass

I had been growing more and more isolated, felt more and more alone, since the others and Evelyn had arrived.

My own universe only seemed like the logical next step.

A few minutes after I had landed in the middle of a path through deserted woods, with civilization barely visible to my left, I had to cut myself off from wishing that Hazel were here. I needed someone to argue with, someone who could attempt to make sense out of all of this in a different way than I could.

Because my perspective on reality had just been changed one too many times for me to believe in anything anymore. At first, I had thought that it was something to do with science, and something to do with the theory of randomness that caused me to be all over the fucking _everything _doing all sorts of crazy shit. Once I met Drew and Hazel, I started to believe that it had something to do with magic or destiny. When I died, I stopped believing in everything for a little while. With Tobias, I started to believe in the power of humans, good or evil, used purposely or not. When Evelyn showed up and we learned about her side of the story, well, that was just reinforcement.

But now, with Evelyn back at the Forest as far as I knew, no one that I knew of in the Abyss, and me here, on a completely new universe, everything that I had once believed had been disproven by something.

Once I had resolved and accepted that, I started walking toward what had better be some kind of civilization. I was pretty sure that I had seen a building. Soon enough, I would be able to tell where I was and then, I could decide what to do from there. All of my action philosophies had been acutely washed away with my spiritual beliefs, and I wasn't expecting to get new ones any time soon. All that was left for me to do was plunge in and take shit as it came.

Because there was no place to go now but forward.

I stepped out of the sheltered woods into daylight, and I immediately knew exactly where I was.

There was no school, quite reasonably no building, on any universe that I would recognize so easily. Ashford Academy almost sparkled with that comfortingly familiar, odd touch of anime charm, right next to me. Apparently I had been walking within the grounds this whole time.

This was Code Geass. At some point in the remarkable timeline, central to so many heated struggles, painful but powerfully necessary events of war.

I had seen this anime run. The episodes on the smallest scale made the whole thing feel so much bigger. On a whim based on a suggestion that I had seen online, I had watched the first ten minutes of the first episode right after seeing the last episode. It had made it all the more important, in my mind.

Brushing away nostalgia, I walked a little anxiously toward the school, acutely aware that I wasn't wearing anything close to the elaborate Japanese private school uniform that animes like this tended to boast. I had seen pictures of it cosplayed online. Lelouch, Suzaku, all of the other kids who would be sucked up into this war in one way or another.

First, I had to figure out where I was in the timeline. Settling into the new universe routine was easy enough to assimilate to. After all, I was used to change, and this was just different enough to have me inspired.

Besides, it was Code Geass. That alone made it special enough to be worth something.

Tobias

The Forest

I spun around. The television was still on inside, but no one was on the couches. The back door was open, with no one coming out.

I felt goosebumps prickling on the back of my neck. Something wasn't right about this. Too many coincidences at once…

Was I all alone, again? Was this place once again my own?

I thought that unwittingly, and shivered. After a few more seconds of internal debate, I summoned the courage to call out "Hello?"

I almost felt a gust of wind answer me. Which was ridiculous, there was no wind here.

"What?" Evelyn's lilting voice came from the house, concerned at my panicked tone. My tense body seemed to turn liquid when she walked out the front door.

"Good. You're here, thank God," I said, spilling the jumbled words out in a single breath.

"Yes, I'm still here, for some reason," she replied, her liquid silver voice sounding almost perplexed.

"What?" I asked, hoping for elaboration from her disjointed mind.

"Well, the rest of them are gone. Completely. Through the Abyss. Just gone," she said.

"You're kidding," I replied absently, panicking internally. Daniel, gone? And the rest of them? Just like that?

"Do you know how? Or why?" I asked, drawing Evelyn's unfocused eyes back to me by taking both of her hands in mine.

"No, they just went."

"Not of their own free will, though. Otherwise they couldn't possibly have gone at the same time." That was the logic. The rest of it? Daniel would never, ever just abandon me like that.

I purged the thought of Daniel from my head, as had become a reflex over the last week. "But are they safe? Will they be together? Somewhere familiar?" I pressed Evelyn for answers, unsure of how much she knew but wanting every bit of it that I could get.

"If they were truly taken together, in the same thought, then they will be together."

_Together, in the same thought. _I related this back to the psychology textbook that I had found on the bookshelf and poured over at night, sometimes, hoping to find something that would help me understand her. Finally, I had found a connection. _The same thought-_ was that something to do with her memory, how the brain stored bits of information? It was comforting to know that some part of all that was her, all that she had become, could be isolated, researched, and printed in a textbook.

Unless I was entirely wrong. That wasn't out of the question.

"And the universe- they draw themselves to it. Their minds always decided that before I could try. Until…" Evelyn spoke, and then stopped, her voice seeming to choke up.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I could sense the distress around her. She had always had a way of that with me. I could tell what she was feeling, and somehow I always knew what she needed. Back in the old days, it had worked in reverse, too.

Now, it was like our connection was amplified, even if it was only one way. Evelyn was something larger than life. She could control my magic with a practiced ease, even if she was unaware of it. She could manipulate this universe, my little corner of the sky, if she really wanted to. That was the only thing that made me glad that she couldn't want to. Willingly or not, I had become attached to this place. Whether it deserved it or not, it had become pretty fucking important to me.

Not as important as Evelyn. But too fucking close for comfort.

Auby

_Marvel Universe_

I woke up in a tree.

I never, ever, in my entire life, thought that I would ever have an occasion to use those words.

Because I didn't climb trees, because heights were such an unnecessary, stupid risk.

(Of course it was the intellectual bit, not the fact that looking down from high places made me feel dizzy and sick to my stomach.)

But either way, I had somehow ended up in a tree, and improbably, fallen asleep. There was know way of knowing how long I had been there. My three-quarter sleeved black blouse and the black skinny jeans I was wearing with it were dirtied with wood chips and there were indents in my exposed skin from being settled against the bark.

I truly, honestly had no idea what was going on.

At first, I decided to stay in the tree for a little while and not ever get down. Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that. About two minutes into my new life in the tree (hell, I might as well have called it my tree), I got bored and decided to climb down.

Again, I didn't have much experience with this, so my climbing was really more accurately described as tumbling. I really don't need to go into the details, just imagine a couple cuts and scrapes, an untied shoe, and I might as well throw in that ridiculous moment when the tree yanked a strand of my hair out. The thing was conspiring against me, really.

Once my feet were back on solid ground (somewhat painfully, I had jumped a bit too high from the last branch and Converse didn't exactly have shock absorbers), I started to look around.

Two key questions needed immediate answering. Where was I? And who was here with me?

Rennie

_Marvel Universe_

At first, I thought it was just from standing up after spending too long at the computer. My legs felt shaky, and my vision blurred to the point of me seeing random blobs of color somewhere in the back of my eyelids. I almost sat back down, but my muscles were rigid. I tried to draw breath, but it seemed like I couldn't remember how.

It just took a bit too long to clear. Otherwise, I might have believed it.

Well. That tiny fact and the bit about the surroundings. My room had somehow been transformed into a bust but clearly pedestrian friendly city street.

Where I came from, that just wasn't how it worked.

A wisp of memory touched at my mind, and I began to feel the tip of the tongue effect, as my AP psychology teacher had so scientifically called such a feeling. Something was going on. I had done something.

This was…right?

Of course not. This wasn't right at all. But with those thoughts steeling me, I decided that I would do well to go and find some answers.

Luckily, I knew where to find such things. Luckier still, there was a clearly marked public library across the street.

I had started to cross the street when I heard something overhead. I glanced up casually because it was louder than any airplane I had ever heard (Was I close to an airport?), and then stopped, just stopped, in the middle of the street.

Overhead was a shape familiar from comic books. I had posted about it on a forum, speculating on its' presence in the new _Avengers _movie.

No need to go to the library. I knew exactly where I was.

This all took about a second. Then, a shrill, deafening noise began beside me, and I turned toward it just in time for the oncoming black car to smash into me.

I flew through the air for what felt like forever, eventually hitting the ground hard on my left side and rolling painfully across the pavement. The motion ended when I banged my head painfully on the curb of the sidewalk.

My vision was smeared. I felt my glasses digging into the back of my head- probably broken. I could barely breathe, the wind knocked out of me. On top of that, my whole body started to tingle and then explode with pain, a muscle at a time.

"Quinjet," I rasped, maybe out loud, as my vision faded further and then I knew nothing.

Auby

Maybe I'm some kind of disaster-phile. Maybe months spent traveling all over _everywhere _had conditioned me to go to where the excitement was.

Regardless, when I heard a long blow of a car horn, then squealing brakes, and then shouts of "Hey! Kid! Oh _shit!" _I was already on my way to the scene.

There was nothing like a convenient nearby disaster to help clue me in on what universe this was. Hell, my first one had begun with a plane crash. With me on the plane.

There was a professional-looking guy, hopefully some kind of doctor, leaning over something sprawled on the street. Cars were blocking the street on either side to keep the area clear.

It was wonderful what people could do before the rescue vehicles even appeared at the scene. I was half admiring them and half looking for familiar faces or clues when I made the mistake of glancing at the motionless figure on the ground.

"_Rennie!" _I couldn't help but scream. Her eyes were closed, glasses knocked off her face. "Oh my God, is she okay?" I asked to anyone listening.

The doctor guy (who had better fucking really be a doctor) turned toward me. "Do you know this girl?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course," I said. "She's my-" I paused for a second. She was _lying on the ground unconscious, _she probably didn't have anyone else here. I needed to be with her. "She's my sister," I said firmly, just in case it could give me some legal pull."

"Great," he said briskly. "An ambulance is on its way, but don't worry, she's going to be okay. There's going to be bruising and at least a minor concussion, and they'll want to keep her overnight at the hospital in case of internal damage."

"Okay," I said, not sure where else to go. This was impossible. _Rennie _was not only here, but here, like this. I couldn't even talk to her.

And on top of everything, I still didn't know where the _flying fuck _we were.

Rennie

"Reneé Novak," was the first thing I heard when I started slipping awake again. I was moving, I could tell, and I felt acutely nauseous. I didn't even bother to open my eyes. I ached all over.

"And yours?" a strict female voice asked.

"Evelyn. Evelyn Novak," the same voice that had said my name stated without hesitation.

I felt something pierce the skin on the back of my hand and I flinched involuntarily. "She's responsive," a new voice directed.

"Rennie?" The first voice. It was unquestionably familiar. But not Evelyn, definitely not Evelyn.

My brain couldn't stay on the same thought long enough to figure it out, especially when the other woman started speaking again. "Does she have any medical conditions that we should know about? Are there any medications she's on, or any that she's allergic to?"

"Um, asthma," the familiar voice said. My eyes seemed to be glued shut, and I couldn't even force them open to see who was pretending to be my sister. The nausea was building still, and my breath was short and shallow. "That's it, she's allergic to peanut butter but no medications. At least not that she's ever taken."

Well, at least she knew a lot about me. Who even was there that knew that much about me?

"Thank you, that's good to know," the second woman replied. I could clearly hear the noise of a pen scratching. "Can you call your parents? Or better, do you know your insurance provider?"

Well, _shit. _Marvel universe, of course I didn't have an insurance provider.

"Pr-frrd Care," I mumbled, taking great care in saying it. It came out croaky and surreal even to my own ears.

"Yeah, Preferred Care," my fake sister repeated, adding "I don't know the number though. And I don't have our card."

"We'll deal with that at the hospital," the woman said, sounding relieved. I tried to force my eyes open, but the dim light in the small room that we were in was almost blinding.

"Try to rest hon, we'll be at the hospital soon."

"Blech," I said, a failed attempt at asking if I was in an ambulance. I assumed so. It fit the circumstances.

Nobody answered. Maybe I hadn't said anything at all.

The vehicle stopped, and then I was moving again. The motion only aggravated the throbbing in my head and the rest of my body, and I kind of zoned out, not really aware of anything, until I stopped.

I finally opened my eyes after what felt like only a couple of minutes, not sure whether or not I had slept. I felt heavy and tired, but most of the pain was gone.

"Hey," someone said softly. I turned to look at them, expecting the figure to be blurry without my much needed glasses, but instead I was taken aback by the sharpness of all the edges and lines in my vision.

I could see. I had to reach up to make sure I wasn't wearing my glasses (bad idea. Ouch) and blinked a few times to see if I could feel any contact lenses. There was nothing, and when I looked back at the girl sitting next to me, she was defined just as clearly.

_Okay. Weird. Really, really weird, _I thought. Weird, but _so _not the issue right now. I blinked a few more times to get used to it. _"Auby?"_

"You're awake!" she exclaimed, with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm. "They said you would be a little sore, but okay, thank God. I'm so glad you're here. With all the shit going on, Evelyn…I'm pretending to be Evelyn, by the way, which is horrible, but I think kind of necessary because I'm still here-" she stopped talking, probably realizing that I hadn't even said anything yet.

"Hi," was all I could think of at the beginning. Joy and anger at her presence battled for dominance inside me. This was Auby. She had abandoned me, and used me, and left me to rot.

But this wasn't that Auby. I had sent this Auby into the universes when she was only fourteen, I had controlled the better part of her life, here.

I had created this Auby. This girl sitting in front of me hadn't done any of the horrible things that the one I knew had done.

This was something like a fresh start. A new universe, a new Auby.

Vague memories of entering myself into the script invaded my mind. The memories were blurry, but I could imagine it.

A new me, then, too.

Auby

Rennie drifted back to sleep, and I asked a nurse about it but she assured me that it was perfectly normal, and I decided to go exploring.

It wasn't really important, but it bothered me that I still didn't know where we were.

I knew that a vending machine probably wouldn't tell me, but I decided to search for one anyway. I had twenty five dollars in my pocket, because of my habit of NEVER, EVER going ANYWHERE without at least some cash. No matter what, some cash in a totally new place could be helpful.

Even if it went towards chips and a coke. The nearest vending machine was in the main lobby, next to the emergency bay where we had come in.

Just as the fancy assed vending machine was practically hand delivering my coke, a commotion arose in the emergency room.

I popped the top on the soda and walked casually closer to investigate. The last commotion within hearing distance had yielded something, so why not check this one out?

"I do not need your fucking help. I am perfectly fine, I could drive out of here if I really wanted to, I need to fix this blasted suit anyway, there are like ten bajillion people at my house to help me if for whatever reason I collapse…"

The long-winded excuse train sounded like someone I knew.

Which meant that it was probably someone that I knew of.

I casually walked through the door separating the waiting room from the emergency room and came almost face to face with Robert Downey Jr.

This was a good day.

Especially since he was wearing half of a badly damaged Iron Man suit.

"Sir, we'd just like to examine you and then you'll be free to go," a short male nurse said in a beleaguered voice. He probably hadn't dealt with the likes of Tony Stark before.

"No. You know what? I have my own driver. He'll come get me. Because I am _fine." _

"Sir, you were blown halfway across a parking garage," an auburn-haired woman in scrubs said. "This would be so much easier if you would just cooperate."

I couldn't help but smile, turning my face away. This scene was just _so typical. _

Then, not needing to hear anymore, I snapped a quick picture with my phone and ducked out to go back to Rennie's room.

I had a universe. I had a walking, talking way of establishing where we were in the timeline right in this building.

This universe had just become infinitely more bearable.

Rennie

I awoke to Auby gently tapping my hand, rightfully scared to touch anywhere else. As soon as I opened my eyes again, she was waving a cell phone in front of my face.

"What?" I asked groggily.

"_Marvel, _Rennie. Fucking Avengers movieverse timeline, not sure about anything else, but _I saw Tony Stark _and he's here."

THAT woke me up. I pushed myself up ignoring the shooting pain throughout pretty much my whole body. "I know. I mean, universe, I know. Vaguely. But _movieverse? _That's the best news ever. And did you say that Tony was _here?" _

"Yep. I saw him." Auby pushed her phone towards me and I took it. The image on it was indeed Tony Stark, in half a blown-apart suit, some grit and blood smears on his face. "This is great. This is so, so, so great."

"Are you feeling any better? Like, do you think you can walk?" Auby asked eagerly, with perfunctory compassion.

"Maybe." I tried to push myself up further. "No. But what did he say? What's going on?"

"I guess he got hurt on a mission or something, something about a parking garage."

I nodded. "This is Marvel, that sounds about typical."

Auby laughed. "I have a feeling that's going to become a common explanation. Anyway, he was arguing with the nurse, it was just _so Tony Stark." _ She was silenced by the sound of voices outside.

"I don't need a private freaking room, if you want me in a private room, send me home." _Nonsense issues with authority, check. _

"Sir-"

"That room right there's open, right? I'll bunk with that girl for the three minutes it will take me to get out of here."

I was immobile. This was not happening. _This was absolutely not happening. _

"If you're sure," someone said uncertainly. The sliding door to the observation room I was in slid open and a male nurse walked in, pushing Tony Stark in a wheelchair. It was easy to tell that he was seriously injured. He had been on his feet when Auby had taken her picture, but since then the legs of the mangled suit had been removed, and when he transitioned himself from sitting in the chair to sitting on the bed across from me, I noticed that he couldn't put any weight on his left leg.

"You'll call someone, and they'll tell you that you need actual medical care that you cannot provide for yourself, and then you'll page us for an X-ray on that ankle," a woman in scrubs poked her head into the room and said.

"You sound pretty fucking sure of it," Tony muttered. Tony Stark. Next to me. So close that _I could hear him muttering. _

"Careful, you're rooming with a minor," the male nurse warned, wheeling the chair back outside and leaving Auby and I alone with Tony Stark.

"It's okay. Believe it or not, we minors aren't bad with our f-bombs," Auby said casually because of course she would say something.

"Really? I thought so," Tony said, reaching down to check out his swollen ankle himself. "Fucking medical system. Fucking nurses not letting me get shit done."

"It's okay, we're sitting here pretending to be people with health insurance until she can walk out of here," Auby replied, pointing at me. "Fuck the system maybe, but it's easy enough to play."

Well, I hadn't quite known that. It seemed like Auby was on top of everything. I had always trusted her. It was strange and difficult right now, but she seemed to deserve it. For the moment.

"So why can't you actually, like, call someone?" I asked, ready to Exchange Words with Tony Stark. I could think of people.

"Because Pepper has probably already called everyone on my contacts list saying that I am not to leave the hospital no matter how much money I offer," he said, finally leaning back on the shitty mattress. "So what happened to you?"

"Hit by a car," I said casually, having gotten over that fact awhile ago. "Life flashed before my eyes and everything." I hope I sounded sarcastic enough, not just nerdy and maybe a bit too religious.

"You ever done that?" Auby asked. It seemed like a regular question to carry on this woefully unorthodox conversation, but I could tell that she was testing to see if Iron Man 2 had happened yet. He would bring up that time with the drag race…

My best friend of this universe was brilliant.

"Sure, loads of times," he said. "Not exactly fun, but not too bad."

"Hey, you're telling that to a first-timer," I replied. I tried to think of a few other scene-setting questions. "What exactly are you in for?"

"Guy was going to bomb a parking garage, someone called me in because his cronies had the entrance blocked off and helicopters are over the budget for this kind of mission, or something. So they called me in. I said that. Well, he really just wanted to make the biggest fucking explosion possible, which would have worked if I hadn't grabbed the thing and tried to magnetically disarm it at the last second. I didn't have time for a fail-safe scan. So it landed me here." Between Iron Man 2 and the Avengers movie, I was guessing. If it was during or after that movie, the whole team would have been called in.

"You have a really interesting life," Auby remarked objectively.

"Thank you," Tony replied, puzzled. "Wait. You girls do know who I am, right?"

Auby sent me a full-fledged grin, which I didn't understand until she started talking. "We know everything about you. Even most of the classified stuff."

"This is a joke, right? Or are you some kind of stalker?" he asked, sounding almost bored, as if he dealt with this on a regular basis.

Auby smiled again, coolly. He had no idea what he was up against. "We're better than stalkers," she said mysteriously.

"Ask us a question about your life and we'll answer it," I said eagerly. We would be great at this.

"We could list things, but that's boring," Auby added.

"Parents names?"

"Howard and Maria."

"Birthday?"

"March second," I replied the instant he was done asking.

"Um…the name of my home AI."

"JARVIS," Auby and I said together, perhaps a bit too eagerly.

"You sound like stalkers to me," he said. "Ugh, one more reason to get out of here."

"Stark Industries has a woman on staff named Natasha Romanov and you're absolutely terrified of her. You're annoyed at Nick Fury because he refused to let you join in on the Avengers Initiative," I tentatively supplied, hoping to prove that the timeline was after Iron Man 2.

His incredulous look proved me right. "What did you say?"

"You heard us," Auby defended. I smirked.

"Okay, so what, mutants? Telepaths like Xavier and Grey? Shield mini-agents or something?"

"We're not affiliated with the X-men or SHIELD," Auby replied professionally.

"What are you, then?" he asked, his voice taking on a serious, jolted tone.

"Oh, just your average stalkers," Auby said.

Auby

I was pretty terrified. I was trying to question Tony Freaking Stark.

But I had Rennie behind me, bolstering me, and that gave me confidence. I took point, and it worked.

"Alright," he said, looking up to examine us. "You've got me interested. Who are you? What do you want?"

"Um," I stalled. If I had set a goal at the moment I had landed on this universe, it would, in all honesty, have been to meet Tony Stark. And here we were, having a conversation, and I had no idea what to do next.

I looked around, trying to find a visual opportunity to stall. Nothing could be found. I _really wanted _to waste some time here, what was going on…

I turned back around to realize that everything had stopped. There was a nurse pushing a cart outside. Rennie was behind me, mouth open. Tony was looking at me curiously.

The second hand on the wall clock in the room was paused at the 20 mark.

Drew had mentioned that we got superpowers on the magical worlds, somehow. I supposed that this was mine.

Time had stopped. With me in it.

So what now, was I supposed to just think of an excuse? I needed Rennie for that. For an instant, I wondered what her superpower was. I hoped that it was cooler than mine, because to really rock this universe we might need something more advanced on the hero scale than _extra planning time._

I had an idea, then came a brief moment of panic as I realized that I didn't know how to _un-_freeze time, and then time seemed to unfreeze by itself. Maybe there was a time limit. Maybe it just read my thoughts. "So, we have these superpowers," I said, assuming that Rennie could do _something, _"and we're not sure how we got them, and we want to get into SHIELD with this."

Tony laughed, not bothering to be in any way reserved. "Random superpowers?" He studied us closely, like he wasn't sure if we were joking or not. "I might as well bring you into SHIELD for even using a few of those words in the same sentence, but let's have a demonstration."

"Can I borrow your watch?" I asked, praying that this would work.

"You going to blow it up?" he asked, already unstrapping it from his wrist.

"No. I'm going to hold it, right here, and in one second it will be thirty seconds ahead," I said, realizing immediately that there were much grander things that I could do with this power. I don't even know how I was sure that an article I was holding would be resistant to the time stoppage. But the second I called upon it, time eerily stopped again.

Tony's watch was nothing like I would have expected out of him- a simple athletic digital band that looked like it was worth about as much as mine (twenty dollars or so at Target). I watched it tick from fourteen to forty-four and then unfroze time just as fast.

"Here," I said. "I stopped time. For thirty seconds. I could do something much bigger but the hospital security cameras might notice." My on the spot lying had improved dramatically since I'd started with the universes.

Well. Either that, or since I had met Hazel and Drew. They were famous for it in my books. "So?" I finished, prompting Tony Stark to answer my allegations.

"I could show you something too, if you really need it," Rennie offered. She had been silent for several minutes. I wondered how she was reacting to my display.

"I think that will do," Tony said in some mixture of wry amusement and awe.

Rennie

While Auby and Tony talked, my mind wandered. Where was everyone else in this universe? Was this strictly movie verse or some kind of ultimate with the movie actors to convey realisticism? Wait, that probably wasn't a word. Realisticness?

I realized that my spacing out was at least partly due to the painkillers in my system. It was also partly due to the brightness of the sun, and how thin these hospital walls were. I could hear activities from the rooms all around us. A few different TV shows, several conversations, even the repetitive clicking of a keyboard. The sun was making everything in the room brighter, as well. I could see every blond strand of Auby's hair in front of me. And the hospital smells were strong, though I was sure that was normal for hospitals. After all, I had scarcely been in one in my life.

I felt raw and exposed, the cuts and bruises that I had acquired in the crash still stinging. I was still getting over the fact that I was even here, that this had worked. It was impossible. More than impossible.

Reality.

I started paying attention again the moment Auby mentioned superpowers. I was sure she had a plan. It had to involve our impossible knowledge of this universe.

And then, she displayed her actual superpower.

That was pretty damn cool. And probably not just a plan.

"I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure cases like you two go to Xavier," Tony said, examining his watch.

"We're not mutants," Auby said clearly. I wasn't sure how much this Auby knew, but Charles Xavier had died in the X-men movies, which totally destroyed my idea of the movie verse timeline.

The First Class timeline, possibly? That was completely different. Then there were the comic timelines- all of them. The cartoon. Even Evolution, though that hardly counted and messed with the Avengers timeline anyway…

I pulled myself back to the present. This was possibly the most important conversation I had ever had. I really shouldn't be missing it. "I could show you something too, if you really need it," I remembered saying, seriously hoping that he didn't.

Or…maybe I could have told him about the nurse named Maggie who was checking the heart-rate monitor of the elderly patient three doors down. His breathing was quick and shallow.

Because I was coming to terms with the fact that this wasn't normal after all.

"The X-men can't do anything for us," I said, throwing more terms around for the heck of it.

"And what, I can?" Tony asked. "I have nothing to do with SHIELD. They rejected me. They want the damn suit of course- never mind."

Definitely post Iron Man 2. Auby finally turned around and we exchanged tight-lipped smiles. "I think SHIELD is going to need you pretty soon," Auby said slyly.

"What, you can see the fucking future now, too? How'd you girls even find me, anyway?" he asked, growing exasperated.

"Luck," I answered simply.

"What, is that code for some other superpower?" he continued.

"Maybe," Auby and I said at the same time, and then we both burst out laughing.

"Is this all some big hoax?"

"You still think it could be?" Auby challenged.

Tony Stark sighed in defeat. "I guess I'd better make some calls."

Auby

Three hours later, we were in the back of a smooth, covert black sedan with a suited and sunglassed agent driving us to SHIELD headquarters. I spent most of the thirty minute trip trying to think of a plan for what to do when we got there, but kept coming up empty.

Plan as we go, then. That seemed to be working out so far. And hey, I could stop whenever I wanted to plan, if I really needed to.

I still needed to get used to that.

Rennie looked kind of uncomfortable in the car, and I wished that we had had the chance to talk privately more. I didn't know how long she had been doing this, who else she had met, what she knew about this whole situation. Whether she had different names for the Abyss and the universes, whether she knew what the Abyss _did. _

I felt a stab of anxiety seize me when I thought about that for the first time all day. My week on the Forest with everyone else seemed a distant memory- and it may as well be, on this utterly new place. Maybe I could just forget about that, never go back there, never see any of them again, and travel with Rennie forever.

Then I remembered that dreaming was always dangerous in this life. I had to focus on the present, and the future would present itself when it was ready.

Whether I was ready for it or not.

Rennie

Now that I had officially decided that I had super senses or something like that, I began to wish that I could turn them off. The car ride was almost unbearable, like someone was shrieking in my ears the entire time. That was the wheels and the engine.

I was excited on top of the discomfort, though. SHIELD. We were going there. _We- _me and Auby, and the Avengers movie timeline- nothing could get any more perfect.

The driver up front periodically glanced back at us, as though he was wondering what the hell two schoolgirls were doing in his company car, but he was probably on some kind of no questions whatever at all or else policy.

Reinforced constantly by Nick Fury.

We would probably get to meet Nick Fury.

"Our lives are insane," I whispered to Auby, who grinned, showing that she had heard me while still facing forward.

The sun was setting behind the buildings of New York City when the car turned sharply left and entered some kind of underground garage. The driver showed ID and drove to some kind of underground doorway that looked sort of like a hotel drop off zone.

Another agent was there to meet us, and we silently scrambled out of the car and followed her inside.

Auby

The basement floor of headquarters (one of many, I was sure) was fairly drab and boring. There were lots of rooms with closed doors that my automatic headcanon filled in as interrogation rooms. That or closets. There were a few elevators scattered about, and some more obviously locked doors, but the agent we were following led us to the fourth elevator we passed. Maybe the others only went down.

We went up one floor into some sort of well lit lobby. Again, I was reminded of a hotel. There were people walking around, probably with various security clearances, and there was a small coffee bar in one corner. Not exactly what I had expected of such an agency. The floor was carpeted and the room well lit.

"In here," the tall female SHIELD agent who had led us through the building said. Rennie followed me into an untidy office, with a familiar face sitting behind the desk.

We were going to be interviewed by seen only in Thor for about thirty seconds and the Avengers trailer for about five; Clint Barton.

"You have a _desk_?" Rennie asked, sounding, sadly, completely serious.

Clint looked up from the newspaper he had been skimming. "Fury said that Stark had given us the tip on you guys, so he didn't have to waste his time dealing with Stark's hijinks himself. Are you Stark's hijinks?"

"Nope," I said assuredly, just as Rennie muttered a quiet "no."

"Well, to prove that and assess if you're worth Fury's time, I'm at my desk that I visit so rarely I often forget about it, to interview you or something. The fact that you're surprised that I have a desk means that you do know a bit about me, which probably means that you've read my file," Clint said, looking down at the newspaper again.

"We make our own files," I said, because the best lines seemed to come to me when I was talking face to face with superheroes. "And you would be surprised with what we know about you, Clint."

"Tell me something Stark doesn't know," he challenged.

This one was all Rennie's. I hadn't read any of the comic books, I only knew this guy from his background appearances in the Tony/Steve fanfiction I tended to read.

"Well, Captain America's alive, but you don't know that yet anyway," Rennie replied. I balked for a second. That was a pretty risky spoiler.

"I'm not sure how much Stark knows about the Avenger Initiative," I said craftily, hoping that he would forget about that last bit.

"This has nothing to do with Stark, does it?" Clint hypothesized. "Stark would have a more elaborate and less risky prank ready if he wanted to."

"No, it doesn't, as we've already claimed," Rennie said impatiently.

"As a matter of fact, he got annoyed at us, then didn't believe us, then tried to refer us to the X-men, then called someone and we got shipped here," I summarized.

"I believe you. I think. I just don't know how we can get through all the legal bullshit.

"Rennie Novak and-" Rennie hesitated, probably not sure whether I was back to my real name or still posing as Evelyn.

"Auby Harris," I replied. It seemed right, now that this universe was progressing right.

"Okay, will those names mean anything to our databases?" he asked.

"Probably not," I answered, though I had always been curious as to whether I existed, living some other life, on this universe or any that I traveled to.

"Awesome," Clint deadpanned in almost a groan. "Why I am doing any sort of diplomatic bullshit, I don't even know-"

Clint's complaining was cut off by the sudden shrill tones of an alarm.

Rennie

Something seemed to explode inside my head, and I clasped my hands over my ears on instinct, though it didn't help at all. It was like when I got too close to one of the alarms during a fire drill at school, but a hundred times worse.

Somehow, I could still hear Clint talking over the impossible tone. "Okay, I think I have to go, so you two…I don't know. I can get, like a babysitter…"

"We'll come with you," Auby volunteered determinedly. I could think of several reasons why that was a bad idea- or at least, I would have been able to, I knew it, if my head wasn't full of the awful alarm noise.

"Okay, you know what? Whatever. Come on," he said, walking out of the office and down a hallway without even checking to see if we were following.

SHIELD security was remarkably bad, I realized once we were in a car speeding toward some kind of supernatural crime scene or something. Details of their operation obviously hadn't been Stan Lee's priority in creating the comics that SHIELD appeared in.

"Some regular rangers found the thing in central park, it's probably not from this planet, and it's growing like crazy," a female voice said into the blue tooth that Clint had clipped on for the car.

"Sounds like fun," he replied, the volume shocking me after the much quieter voice of the other participant in the conversation. "Any word on how to bring it down?"

"Not guns, they tried that," the female responded over the phone. "Bullets went straight through it."

"I don't see how I'm going to be much help if _bullets _weren't," Clint snarked at her. "Unless I get clearance _absolutely right now _to use my new upgrades."

"You have clearance," the woman, who must have been in some position of authority, said. "Now get your ass there before the thing gets any more trees. God knows that we need more of the things in this damn city." I could hear the click of the receiver as she hung up. This sounded like Clint's kind of woman, certainly.

"Thank you honey," he said to himself, not knowing that I had heard the entire conversation. "It sounds like there's some freaky growing bulletproof blob thing in the park," Clint told us. "So now might be a good time for those superpowers."

"Right," I said, glancing sideways at Auby. She had the power to…well, she had the power to convince Tony Stark that she could stop time. At least.

I could hear every movement of the engine under us and see every piece of gravel in the road.

This would require some creativity.

Auby

I glanced at Rennie, and saw her looking back at me from the corner of her eye, under the wire frames of her glasses. We couldn't really say anything here. Not with the messy story that we had put together on the spot.

She had better have something good up her sleeve though.

It was too late to think of a plan. I had to grasp the car door to counteract the G-force as Clint turned into the appropriate deserted parking lot and then parked.

The thing was huge. And blue. And, strangely enough, transparent. It looked like there was some kind of electrical current running through its body.

That was interesting.

"Over here," I said, grabbing Rennie's wrist, too look like I had something in mind, and to give us time and space away from Clint for either planning or denial purposes.

"Okay, now what?" she asked me seriously, once we were a reasonable distance away. Clint was still grabbing stuff from the trunk of the car.

"Um," I stalled, glancing at the monster, who looked like it was looking at the sky (and suppressing the urge to point out what a very _Marvel _situation this was) and checking back at Clint, who was winding something around a bow. "Planning time. That would be good." I grabbed Rennie's wrists (because this was my superpower, I should be allowed to decide how it worked) and stopped time. It was a strange sensation, starting from within me and expanding I didn't even know how far.

It was just as eerily still and silent as the time in the hospital. But now, Rennie was here with me.

I focused on calming myself down. I was supposed to be the brave one here. The smart one, in some ways. The one out in the real world, figuring things out for myself.

Really, I just wanted to protect Rennie. That realization was oddly unsetting, but I ignored the feeling.

"I think I know what we can do." Rennie sounded just as surprised as I felt when she said it. I didn't respond immediately, focusing back on reality and giving her space to elaborate. "Can you see those lighter squiggly things in its body?"

"The electrical currents, I think they are," I responded. Even they were motionless.

"Can you see where they're coming from?" she asked.

I looked. "No."

"I can see…a lot. And hear things that are really quiet. And hear loud things really loudly. Is there even a name for that? Why do we get the really weird powers?"

"I don't know, but go on," I replied, oddly snippy. The time field that I was generating was starting to feel like an uncomfortable weight on my shoulders. I wasn't sure how long I could keep this up.

"That must be its heart. Or something. So, if we hit it there somehow…"

"Or get Clint to," I added, finally on board with her train of thought. Figuring that we had gotten enough and not wanting to get too tired, I let go of the time field. It startled Rennie, causing her to jump up and wince at the same time. God, she'd been hit by a car only a few hours ago.

I immediately started running, jogging around to the other side of the creature to see if I could find what Rennie had been talking about. The electricity that it was apparently generating was humming quietly, and I was pretty sure that touching it would kill me.

Clint finally made his move, as I saw through the watery body of the creature. He shot an arrow straight at the eyeball of the creature.

"Auby, now!" Rennie yelled, probably having figured out the next stage in her plan. Regardless of her motive, I trusted her, and I stopped time as fast as my reflexes allowed. I jogged back over to where she was standing, reopened the field for a split second to let her in, and then closed it again.

"Okay, what? I can't do this for very long."

"We need that arrow. Can we grab it with time all fucked up like this?"

"Yes. Definitely." I started walking over toward the arrow that had just been released. It was a few feet over my head. Rennie followed. "I'll lift you up, and you grab it?"

"Sure," she agreed, sounding just a bit reserved. We accomplished this, after almost slipping once.

After she had it in her hand, I said "Okay, run. Somewhere Clint can't see us. Behind that bench." I was already moving toward it.

"What's wrong with the trees right there?" Rennie asked logically.

"Trees are okay," I replied, walking in the same direction. I released the time field the second we were relatively out of sight, and immediately directed a quick "now what?" at Rennie.

"I know exactly where the arrow needs to go," she explained. "It's heart-thing. It seems close enough to the surface, on this side. The electricity won't do anything, and we don't even know if this is even solid."

She seemed determined and sure of herself. "Okay. So you can stick it in, and how about we fall back to these trees just in case it explodes or something?"

"Sure," she agreed.

"You have like twenty seconds, okay?" I asked, because using this power was getting more difficult every time.

"Fine," she replied, and everything stopped.

A second later, Rennie was running. She had to jump to get high enough on the creature, grab something so she could stay there long enough to stick it in as far as it needed to go. I had never seen her do anything so physical outside of gym class. For some crazy reason, I really, really liked it.

"Let's go!" she called, dashing back towards me. I shrugged off the time-stop, because at this point there was no way that I could keep that up and run at the same time, and ran with her toward the bench we had been headed toward before.

I turned around once, stopping when we were picking our way through the trees.

The monster exploded dramatically, all blue gel, with a subtle popping sound. And then it was gone completely.

I was laughing hysterically as we both collapsed on the bench, in an oddly secluded little clearing. "We're amazing," I said, full of enough adrenaline to make it possible to laugh, catch my breath from running, and talk at the same time.

"We are," Rennie said, her excitement more subdued. She was smiling, though, and that was all I needed. She looked amazing too, her pale cheeks slightly flushed from the exertion and her dark hair windblown. She looked perhaps more alive than I had ever seen her.

I settled down after a few minutes, adrenaline still giving me a rosy, optimistic view of the world. Well, adrenaline and this fucking fantastic universe. Adrenaline and this fucking fantastic universe and Rennie.

"This is great," I said, practically repeating myself but censoring my real thoughts for not wanting to be too forward. I love you wouldn't work. She didn't need any confirmation that she was my best friend, or that I would always be there for her.

It was too soon to say it. I couldn't ruin this friendship with anything new. Because then where would I be? Alone on an unfamiliar universe, just like at the beginning. I absolutely did not need a repeat of that, and I was lucky to have Rennie. I was lucky that Rennie was so perfect.

I couldn't say anything. I couldn't change this. This moment was as close as it could come to perfect already.

Rennie

The way she looked at me, for that few seconds on the bench in what honestly felt like a below freezing windchill (which I was braving with only a three-quartered sleeve shirt), hair blown back and frizzy, skin glowing, and her whole face alight with a true smile, I almost thought that she felt the same way.

When she opened her mouth (we were sitting so close I could feel the heat from her even through a sweater), I almost thought it again.

But no, it wasn't me. It was the situation. She wasn't going to say anything, I realized. And it was really too bad, because these moments, when it seemed like we were thinking in tandem, were coming so much more frequently now.

It really was too bad that she couldn't display it more clearly- that I couldn't. That she wouldn't say anything.

Because I'm not going to say it. I could never say it, not back home, not even when I was merely writing. She can do what she likes, whether I love her or not. She's the important one; I'm nothing. I don't deserve to be loved, especially by someone like her.

So I can spend the next however long waiting and dreaming, and keeping up with her as much as I can, and trying not to dwell on my beautiful daydreams.

And every time she looks at me like that, I can't help but get the same flutter of butterflies in my stomach that I did two years ago. She'll smile at me like that forever, and I can't be sure that anything will change.

Clint seemed convinced that he had singlehandedly caused the explosion as he drove us back to SHIELD, on the phone the entire time. I wasn't even sure whether we should tell him what he had done. The best kind of heroes were the silent ones, right? The nameless martyrs, or inspirers, or revolutionaries. The ones that were acclaimed and loved in literature, but never in history books. Once upon a time, I had dreamed of being one of those heroes. Somehow, now, it was oddly dissatisfying.

Auby

The hum of the air conditioner in the room we were staying in at SHIELD headquarters was keeping me awake.

That's a blatant lie.

My mind was keeping me awake.

First of all, why the fuck did a covert organization like SHIELD have guest bedrooms? I mean, how many people like us must they get? And how underfunded must they be to not just put us up in a hotel?

Second of all…Rennie.

She appeared to be sleeping soundly on the (uncomfortable) cot next to mine (maybe that was another small reason that I was having trouble sleeping). Her dark hair was messy and tangled, just like I was used to seeing it, and her face was turned away from me.

I kept going over that beautiful moment, at the bench today. So few words, so much passion and happiness and fun. It seemed like she was the only person who had ever drawn that response out of me.

She was my best friend.

And I was gradually coming to realize that I was in love with her.

Was that even allowed? It had never been part of any plan I might have had for the future, and going to college with Rennie had been in those plans somewhere. Rennie had always been my rock, my lifeline, sometimes in far too many ways. She was the only person who really knew about half my life. She was the person who kept me up until midnight the night before games, not that I ever minded. Talking to her had been, for so long, one of the best parts of my day. She had been such a special part of my life for so long, and sure, the entire world around us was different now, but that didn't mean that anything should change.

It wasn't important, though. What we had shared today, laughing and almost collapsing on top of each other at the park, that moment, and all the ones in the past as well as the ones to come were the important part.

I loved her. I could accept that, and leave it there. Because I knew, I had always known, that no matter how I felt, I wanted to stay here with her. I didn't want anything to change. For now, this was enough.

Rennie

"Hey, the base is on lockdown and we're ordering food for the skeleton crew," Clint said, after sharply rapping on and then opening the door to our temporary quarters without really bothering to ask us anything. "We were thinking Chinese. Do you want anything?" It was the next evening. Auby and I had both slept until almost one in the afternoon after the incident in the park and a night full of lively debriefs and questioning.

Auby and I both set down our cards (we were playing war since neither of us had ever really advanced beyond the age seven stage in terms of card games), and she was the first one to speak. She caught onto the flaw in Clint's plan quickly, as per her usual. "Doesn't getting takeout food during a lockdown kind of defeat the purpose of the exercise?" she inquired clinically.

Being a smartass in this guy's presence may not have been the best idea, but Clint let it go. Probably because Auby's gorgeous. "We have a lockdown like once a week," he explained. "One time, I asked Director Fury why it was going on, and he just said it was _precautionary _and glared at me until I left his office. So since nothing important's been up to call us to duty or whatever, takeout Chinese it is."

I was still skeptical, but like I had told myself so many times already, this was Marvel. We were surrounded by aliens and superheroes, and Auby and I had our _own fucking superpowers _and we were going to order takeout Chinese during a lockdown.

That was this world's normal, and I was more than okay with it.

"Um, I guess I'll get sesame chicken because that's easy and," I looked at Auby. "And chicken lo mein, right?"

"Perfect," she replied, flashing one of those amazing smiles at me. When she smiled like that, I knew I had done something right.

Clint rolled his eyes and walked away, obnoxiously leaving the door open. "I have to wonder if we're actually going to get that food," I commented. "And it might just be worth it to follow Clint around until it comes, just to see Fury magically show up out of the blue and yell at him about it."

"Definitely," Auby agreed as we flipped our next card simultaneously. We both had jacks, so we flipped again.

Jacks fit us, in a way. We were strong, but not very strong. There were those above us, and those below us.

But more than that, we were equal.

The three that I flipped next lost to Auby's ten. Maybe I was reading too deeply into things. Maybe I always did. But somehow, it didn't matter, because I was with Auby and could see through walls and either there was Chinese food coming or Fury screaming at Clint to be entertained by.

Everything was really, really good.

Too bad the lockdown had a purpose.

Auby

"I am so glad you're here," I confessed, after Rennie had completed her Wikipedia-style summary of the Hawkeye comics and how it led into the original Avengers (the storyline she suspected we were currently in). "And for what it's worth, I apologize sincerely for not listening to you when you told me that I absolutely had to see the X-men movies, then Iron Man and the sequel, then Thor, then Captain America, then the Avengers trailer-"

"Hey, I was insistent for a reason," Rennie said. "No really, you should listen to me next time. It's just too bad that you're here and you've never seen even that trailer. I don't think you're appreciating this half as much as I am."

"Believe me, I'm appreciating it," I said, almost uncomfortably honestly. I quickly looked down, placing my last card on the table. I won, and shuffled the pitiful two cards that I had left. "You know, I'm thinking that we should have seen Chinese food by now."

The instant the words left my mouth, there was a faint explosion in the distance and then alarms started blaring above our heads. Rennie and I both scattered our cards in surprise, and then I, quick thinking, said "Let's get out in the hall in case they do a real lockdown. I don't want to miss anything." I (platonically, so platonically, always platonically) grabbed her wrist and pulled us both outside before releasing her. I led in a random direction, passing Clint on a cell phone just in time to hear him say "Never mind" and hang up.

"No Chinese, then," I murmured, getting a flat look from Rennie in return. Maybe there were more important things that I should be thinking about.

And maybe I was allowed to think on my own fucking terms.

I knew that wasn't true. I suspected that it had never been true. But for as long as I needed, I could just believe it and focus on something else.

Like the impending disaster that was surely on its way.

Rennie

I stopped, right there in the hallway. I stopped moving, turned away from the highly distracting sight of Auby, and _looked. _

I could tell what was going on throughout the base just from hearing it. There were people gathering weapons. People calling other important people.

_A name…a hint…somewhere, please, _I thought, listening as hard as I could.

The next thing I heard was a soft "Oh, shit," from one of the softest rooms, probably in one of the subbasement levels. Then an odd, sharp, unidentifiable noise. Next came a hard _thunk _followed by a series of softening vibrations. I was able to interpret that as a body hitting a wall.

"Something's happening downstairs," I relayed to Auby and Clint, who was still standing nearby. I opened my eyes to look at them, not even having realized that I had closed them. Everything came back to me in still shocking detail. "Someone might be dead."

"What floor?" Clint asked, apparently not fazed by the unpredictability of what I could do.

"I don't know."

The next thing I knew, the three of us were in an elevator (the lockdown overridden by Clint), sliding down level by level to see if there was any commotion.

On the third sublevel, several terrified archive employees ran us toward the back of the elevator, jostling us all over the place. I was pushed to the back.

Then, Auby grabbed my hand. She pushed through the hysterical mob with her thin shoulder, me trailing close behind her. The elevator door closed behind us.

Auby

The level was silent to my regular ears, eerily so. Clint hadn't even followed us out. It was a bit creepy. This was most likely the right floor, due to Rennie's senses.

I realized that our hands were still together. I didn't let go.

"Should we check rooms or something?" I asked.

"I don't know," Rennie said quietly, the bravery that she had displayed so much on this universe finally faltering.

"We can do things. We're really good at this. We're going exploring," I decided, prompting the same enthusiasm in her.

"We blew up a giant electrical blob monster and had a conversation with Nick Fury," Rennie replied, nodding and seeming to steel herself. "Door by door it is."

As it turned out, going door by door was unnecessary. As we stood there, there was a short, audible scuffle in a room near the end of the hallway, and then the door not only broke down but flew all the way across the hall, slamming into the next door and shattering.

Then it was quiet for a moment. A short pause later, a figure that was familiar to me only from DVD covers and snippets of trailers emerged gracefully from the room.

Rennie's hand tightened on mine, and from that and her sharp intake of breath, I realized that shit had just gotten really, really serious.

Rennie

Of all the things that could possibly have gone wrong, all the problems with this order events that could have led to anything, and we got Loki.

Loki was a Norse _God. _Without Thor's cock blocking, Loki could probably destroy the world.

"Are we screwed?" Auby whispered.

I nodded.

Loki addressed us before either of us could think of anything to say. "Mortals."

Just then, a strange wave of nausea came over me. The world grew blurrier, then darker, and then everything disappeared.

The last thing I caught site of was Loki, looking almost perplexed.

Then, everything was gone.

All I could think of was how we had probably just been the prequel to the Avengers. Auby and I. Reconciled. A team of two. She had appreciated me and listened to me, and we had made things happen.

For those few minutes, in the dark and just after, I believed that I had done the right thing.

Then I remembered that I shouldn't have moved at all. Something had changed.

Something was wrong.

Tobias

_The Forest_

_A few minutes earlier_

"I have an idea," I said as I walked into the room with the intention of propositioning my idea to Evelyn. But the instant I caught sight of her and what she was reading, I had to stop.

"You remembered," she said blankly, in the odd, emotionless tone that I was still trying to get used to.

"Of course I did," I replied, sitting down carefully next to her on the couch, looking over her shoulder at the symbol book. "This whole world is about you, you know." I wasn't afraid to admit it, not even sure of how much she registered.

"Some girlfriends ask for a house. I get a world," she said, still mesmerized by the book.

"Well, you get a circle," I said, laughing a bit nervously. Suddenly, my idea didn't matter. If I was right about this, nothing was wrong. We could wait a bit. "That's all this place really is. I built it on paper, at first. I drew a circle, and imagined it as a planet. That was too hard, the dimensions and detail were just impossible, so I made the world flat. I can do that. We can all do that, if we want to enough."

"Hazel and Drew made their own world. Like ours," Evelyn replied, her voice surprisingly lucid as she traced over the symbols in the language book that Daniel and Tobias had spend so many hours with.

"Our island." The familiar phrase slipped off my tongue with surprising ease. Our island. Our imaginary dream. A joke, really. A fantasy. Endless stories, made up on the spot. That was all it was.

The island was one of the things that I hadn't allowed myself to think about, a memory inherently tinged with Evelyn but in no way driving.

"_The beach has two parts," she said. "One for lying on the sand and, well, that's pretty much it, and another for making sand castles and playing beach volleyball. The granier sand because that's better for it." Her foot nestled its way between mine under the sheet. _

_I sipped at the glass of champagne from the bottle that we had illegally managed to get our hands on only hours ago, feeling it warm my throat. "There are a couple of palm trees on the laying in the sun side," I added. "For shade." _

"_No, coconut trees. With actual coconuts on them," she replied, gesturing for the champagne. I handed it over, careful not to spill. We weren't too drunk, and we probably wouldn't get too drunk. _

"_Sure. And the coconuts will be filled with pasta. And cookies," I teased. _

_Evelyn laughed. "Thanks for shattering the image."_

"_Hey. Nothing wrong with cookies," I mock defended. "And if you want an image, I would totally draw you one."_

"_You could never capture it right," she said, not as an insult to my art skills, but as a compliment to our ingenuity. _

"_Not if your mental picture's the same as mine," I replied, and leaned my head towards hers for a kiss. _

Evelyn

Tobias wanted them back.

He said the he had a plan for getting them back.

I was a part of that plan.

"Part of you is still connected to the Abyss," he explained.

Then why couldn't I control anything?

He didn't know.

First, he tried to show me the magic, let me do it myself. I felt it. I saw it, when it was strong enough. But I couldn't touch it. I couldn't get it to take me into the Abyss, to search for those all too familiar souls in the vast network of worlds surrounding it.

We tried for awhile. While we were trying, him helping to make me whole again, I didn't mind the rest of the time. I even began to enjoy those moments before falling asleep and the moments just waking up, the moments we spent talking and touching, just like before.

I even began to enjoy them.

Finally, on the third day, Tobias had another idea.

He would go in with me.

Tobias

I summoned the magic. It was a familiar feeling, now. I had created this. I had practiced with it from the start. I felt the control I had over this world, and I felt my power to destroy it in a heartbeat. I _saw _it, in all its perfection and imperfection and beauty. I felt a surge of pride, and of preliminary nostalgia. Whatever happened now, we wouldn't be here much longer. We had to get the kids back, and then figure out how to get ourselves around. All of us. We had become a team the second that they had stepped foot on my world, and I would see their journeys through.

I don't know how much Evelyn agreed. I don't know how much she understood. But for now, at least, she trusted me enough to let me do this.

I was breathing in short bursts, I could tell, my brain too wrapped up with the magic for me to remember to breathe properly. "Come here," I said to Evelyn. I had never tried anything like this before, but if I was right about her connection to the Abyss, and the way that this magic would work, I could steer her down into the dark to find the rest of them and possibly draw them back.

Almost shyly, Evelyn walked up to me and gingerly encircled my wrists in her cool, slim hands. I moved my hands up, brushing her hair out of the way to touch her temples.

I closed my eyes, and then let my magic flow into her.

The result was immediate. I could see her. Her mind was open to me, and rushing into mine in a dizzying flow of images that would quickly fade. Somehow, I heard a short, delighted gasp from her in real life and I could tell that she was experiencing the same thing. I could have looked through Evelyn's brain forever. Her every memory, her every little quirk, her likes and dislikes and everything about her that I either already knew or had no right to.

With will, I focused, making my mind not an open net for her every whim, but a narrow drill into hers. With that method, it was easier to sort through the tangled, strangely dark-tinged orderly mess and find the source of the darkness.

It was definitely part of the Abyss. It was behind things, hidden, releasing virtual tentacles into Evelyn's mind and gripping her tightly. An instinctive fear told me to pull out and go nowhere near it.

I plunged through, and I felt Evelyn following me. In the next moment we were soaring, holding hands with the bodies our consciousnesses had provided for us. This wasn't quite the Abyss, though. It was just as grand and just as blank, but the one crucial difference was that it was white, not black.

The Evelyn flying beside me was the one I remembered, the one that I had dreamed of- not the one she had become. Bright blue eyes that crinkled and changed shape when she smiled, longer hair that I had always thought of as a bit too dark to be strawberry blond, and her relaxed, knowing gaze.

This was the Evelyn I loved.

"I know how to look. Follow me," she said, and I actually felt a tugging on my hand as we sailed downward. Her voice was like bells, like wind chimes, like laughter. It was larger than life, and there was no problem with that.

"You can't get them out, Tobias," she said smoothly. She guided me toward a pinprick in the pearly white canvas around us, raising her free hand above it and letting two bits of light shoot up into her hand. Collecting souls?

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, surprisingly slipping back into the charm and humor that defined my natural demeanor around Evelyn.

"I'm sorry, but you won't be getting them off your world," she said.

"But we can't make them stay there," I offered, puzzled at her use of the second person. Weren't we in this together?

She laughed. "First of all, I know what you're thinking. You don't even need to speak. Your magic broke certain barriers, but it's on my terms that you're here."

I immediately became guarded. I didn't understand. Her terms?

"I am Evelyn," she said, by way of explanation, maybe. "I am the Evelyn you remember. I have the memories from the Abyss. The important ones, anyway. The Evelyn you have out there." She didn't even gesture, but I knew that she meant on the Forest. "She had to survive it."

Evelyn

I could see the confusion in his eyes turn to recognition, and then sympathy. "So you're what, then, her soul?"

"You could say that." That was exactly how I considered it anyway, though contrary to popular belief, whatever being ran this mess didn't assign specific labels. Oh, and he was completely indifferent to sexual orientation.

I could sense him shaking himself, refocusing. Here, with me in control and him essentially transparent, I found myself more deeply in love with him than ever before. Through his love for and joy at seeing me, through the pain that came with it, he was pulling himself together and using his advantages to help other people. Just like the moment we had met. "So what's going to happen to us- to them?" he asked. The change in pronoun was necessary because he could leave whenever he wanted to. He just wanted to ensure the safety of the others.

I moved down to the next hole in my bubble, picking up the third soul. We were in the Abyss, but around us was a bubble generated by me. I had been able to do this once before, when my Abyss-surviving counterpart had tried to pull the others down with her. I had manipulated the situation, and they had all barely gotten out alive.

"Evelyn." Tobias quietly reminded me, seeming to be aware of my distraction.

"You and the others will be free to do what you wish, whether that is to travel or have a home," I replied.

He picked up on the pronouns as well. "What about you?"

"I don't know yet."

"Come back with me," he didn't hesitate to plead.

"That's not an option," I said, trying to be larger than life, trying not to show him how much I wished it was.

"We can do anything," Tobias added immediately.

"Almost," I replied honestly. "We almost got there."

Tobias

"What do you mean?" I asked. _Almost _gave me simultaneous nervous and warm feelings.

"We were so close. The day I died, I thought we had had it all. The day I separated from that other part of me, I knew that no one could ever have it all," she replied, eyes set away from me. I saw her take in two more souls and stash in the same place as she had put the rest, and I felt us sharply angle back toward where we had come from. Something about that confused me, but I wasn't able to focus on anything but Evelyn for long enough to think about it. Our hands were locked together, and I doubted that it was even possible to tear them apart. Not that I wanted to, of course.

"You haven't explained yet," I prompted, feeling that my time with this Evelyn was drawing to a close.

"I don't have time," she replied, confirming my fears. "But no matter what happens, I love you, okay? I will always love you, and even though what I think I might have to do now is for you, you can't blame yourself. Okay?"

"I'm not going to promise anything until-" my voice was cut off as we ran into darkness and our hands separated.

And then I felt my knees collapse and crunch down hard on the floor of the clearing, the other Evelyn sitting in front of my like nothing had happened.

Auby

_The Forest_

Rennie looked at me in what seemed to be a state of pure panic.

"Have you never switched universes before? You didn't tell me that Marvel was your first," I commented, before even glancing around. "And…holy shit, I've been here before."

"I know," Rennie said, quickly spinning on her heels and walking away.

"Wait, what?" I asked, jogging to catch up with her.

She heard my steps, and turned to face me, glaring full on despite the three inch difference in our heights. "This was not supposed to happen. I'm not supposed to be here. I have no idea what's going on," she said, sounding increasingly panicked but not making the least bit of sense.

"It's okay, we'll figure it out, we just have to find our way to the clearing," I said, trying to console her as I looked for any spot of brightness in the oddly shaped and sized surrounding woods. I had recognized this place the moment we had arrived.

"No. This is not okay," Rennie said firmly, still walking in the same direction. I followed her, not knowing if it was the right one or not. "This wasn't supposed to happen, I thought I could…I'm trapped here, just like you!"

I paused, my step faltering. What was she talking about? "Rennie, stop. Explain," I urged.

"I might as well, everything's too much of a fucking mess to go any further," she replied, her voice filled with venom. "Do you know how you got here?"

"Some ascended being version of your sister drags us around…God, did you even know that? But someone brought her here, too, so it's hard to tell," I replied, as honestly as I could. It felt odd to finally be having this conversation as I realized how many important things that we hadn't yet talked about at all.

"Yeah, that's all you _would _know," Rennie said, condescending. "Well, above Evelyn on the chain of command in your life is me."

"The fuck?" I managed. Chain of command in my life? Something cold gripped my stomach. I did not like the sound of that.

"I sent you here," Rennie explained, sounding thoroughly exasperated. "I created this whole mess of a ridiculous universe, first with Hazel and Drew, and then Evelyn, and then you and Daniel," she said.

I couldn't process what I was even hearing, except to say "So we're actually _fanfiction_?"

"I hate you, you know," Rennie said mildly, as though she was informing me that my shoe was untied. "That's why I did it. I sent you away when you were fourteen, but you were actually sixteen in my timeline, like me." I was incredulous. I could hardly stand to listen. "And you betrayed to me, and lied to me, and abandoned me."

I grasped at threads, responded to what I could understand with the words that I could find. "Rennie, you know that I would never-"

"Yeah, Auby, I do," she said. "Because I wrote you that way. You're not actually Auby Harris. You're _my _Auby Harris."

That struck something deep within me. I had trusted, known, hell, _loved _this girl, and this was all I was to her? A creation; something to be manipulated?

"I can't believe you," I said, tightening my voice after realizing how clearly I had portrayed my hurt. "You did this? I'm sure you know exactly how hard this has been for me. At the beginning? Do you have any idea how scared I was? Do you care about me at all?"

Rennie, for a terrifying second, didn't answer. And then, almost too quietly to hear, she said "You deserved to be punished."

Rennie

This was wrong. Everything was wrong. I was on a new, unfamiliar world with Auby and who knew what dangers, and Auby was screaming at me and for some reason I had just told her the fucking _truth, _and I realized with cold certainty that nothing would ever be right again.

I was lost, actually lost, unlike any of _them _had ever been. There was nothing above me in this; nothing! I was supposed to be writing for Auby. But now here she was, mine still but viciously independent, and there was no simple solution to any of this.

I knew in hindsight that I should have written something to get myself out, some sort of code that would take me back to my familiar but dismal world of high school and computers and constant, nagging, loneliness. I had Auby in front of me, right now, like I never would or could there, and I suddenly wasn't sure if I wanted it or not.

But then, suddenly, I wanted her to know. I wanted so badly to be able to explain myself, explain how this fucking twisted story had kept me feeling _alive _these past few years, how I had _felt _the characters rearing up and trying to twist out of my grasp, and how terrified I had been.

I forced the present situation out of my head. I had Auby, here and now. This might be my only chance. "Can you please let me explain some things?"

Hazel

I regained my senses quickly and the second after I was dropped from the Abyss, I realized that we were back in the Forest.

_We. _I hoped.

"Drew?" I called.

"Yeah," he responded immediately from only a few feet away. He emerged from behind a tree. He scrubbed his face roughly with his palms. "Back here? Damn, now that case is going to haunt me forever."

"It was werewolves, I know it," I responded, going to stand right next to him as we walked in the first instinctive direction that came to mind through the Forest. We had come from the universe that corresponded with _The Dresden Files. _

I slipped my hand into Drew's as I walked, drawing familiar security from the position. Whatever we were back here for, we were in it together. And eventually, we would get out of it together.

Evelyn

Slowly, they emerged from the Forest. Daniel first, alone. Then came Hazel and Drew, walking together and purposefully, and last Auby and Rennie, a wall of cold anger separating them.

"Rennie," I said to Tobias. Rennie? Rennie had never been here before. I had never touched Rennie, never seen her. She was supposed to be at home, living a real life. What was she doing here?

They gathered to where we were. There was talking. Tobias explained his part- our part- in their return. They were thinking about what to do next.

I kept Tobias's hand in mine, but my thoughts were elsewhere. I didn't know if anyone else could sense it, but something was happening. Something big; something powerful- something that could destroy worlds.

It was the Abyss, I knew. Something to do with it. Something boiling in the dark.

Daniel

The story Tobias told was as confusing to me as anyone. Even knowing his patterns, his mannerisms, and what he said when he wasn't speaking, it was hard to keep track of his elaborate tale.

Apparently, Evelyn hadn't been the sole controller of our actions in the universes. There had been someone above her, manipulating at least Tobias and Evelyn, and maybe the rest of us, as Evelyn had manipulated us. All Evelyn really was, was one of us, trapped inside the Abyss just as I had been. Tobias waded around the tricky subject of what she had done in there (maybe he didn't even know) but he explained that Evelyn had not been alone or even particularly sane in her actions.

I wasn't quite sure why Rennie Novak was standing there with us, quietly listening, and I almost wanted an explanation for her presence when she hadn't been here last time. But at the same time as Tobias was talking, everyone else was listening and commenting, I felt something.

It was peculiar, and I could tell that this was through some new sense. At first I assumed that it was Tobias's magic. But of course, he would have sensed it first, and he didn't appear to sense this. It was almost painfully loud to me now. The sky above us was actually darkening, as if it were about to rain- but no, that wasn't right…

I only understood after I caught Evelyn's eye. This had something to do with the Abyss.

I should have known it, really. Could have guessed. I just had no desire to accept that.

Hazel

Tobias was still talking animatedly when the skies opened up. It only took a few jabs for us all to realize that this was not rain, but hail.

Cue a mad scramble for the cabin, because even though this was a ridiculous situation and we were talking about ridiculous things, we were all still to some extent normal people who had no desire to be hailed on.

The thought was oddly comforting in the midst of all the craziness. However, once we were all crowded into the small kitchen in the house and the hail was falling so thickly that I couldn't see the edge of the Forest beyond it, that normalcy came to a screeching halt.

"That's not hail," Evelyn said, and from what I had learned last week and what Tobias had been telling us, we should probably be listening to Evelyn.

"Then what is it?" Auby asked pragmatically.

"I have no idea, but it's definitely not hail," Daniel, of all people, responded. I looked at him for what might have been the first time since Naruto. He looked genuinely nervous now, and his face had an additional hard set to it. Resolution. Pride. Whatever it was, it was new, and a significant change from the masked emotionless façade that I had come to know.

But the one thing I knew wouldn't have changed no matter what is that Daniel didn't lie. I respected him for that more than he would ever know. Therefore, what was going on outside wasn't hail.

"It's coming toward us," Evelyn said, standing stock still and looking out the door as though possessed. "It's coming for us. It wants us. It will envelop us, dissolve us."

"Evelyn, what the hell?" Rennie asked roughly. I spared one glance for Drew's younger Novak cousin. I had no idea what she was doing here, but I had assumed that we would get to that later. Apparently, she was just as clueless as the rest of us.

"No," Evelyn said, and I was shocked as it came out almost as a sob. The whole time I had known this new Evelyn, with her almost white hair and pallid skin, she had scarcely shown emotion at all. Now, she was breaking down without clear purpose. I felt frozen, awkwardly out of place as she sank to her knees.

Tobias was there, steadying her. "What is it? Evelyn, I'm here," he murmured. They sounded like familiar words.

Something cold and inexplicable knotted my stomach as Evelyn leaned over to whisper in Tobias's ear.

Evelyn

I knew what I had to do.

I had felt it, washing against the back of my consciousness like a wave, since Tobias had probed through. I didn't know if I could keep it at bay forever.

It hit me hard, cutting through every layer there was between me and the world outside. I felt pain, real pain as I realized what I was about to do. What I would have to give up. And then, as big as the pain, determination, because of what it would be for.

I pulled Tobias close. He was already there, whispering sweet nothings, poised to protect me. He had always been there to protect me, but as much as he tried, he couldn't have protected me from the Abyss.

He had to stop trying.

"I love you," I said first, whispering faintly at him. "I wish I never left you in the first place-"

"Evelyn, you can't blame-" I paused him before the inevitable _yourself _with a finger to his lips.

"My turn. I'm not going to come back from this. You mustn't look for a way." The words seemed wrong, but they were all I could think of. "Don't remember this. Remember…before. Remember our island."

Tobias looked panicked and near tears at the same time. "Whatever you're doing, you can take me with you."

I swallowed an odd lump in my own throat. The preclude to tears. A sensation that I hadn't felt in far too long.

I let my eyes moisten. This was my last chance, anyway. "I don't want to. I love you too much." And with that, I was gone. I don't know what happened to my body, but I rooted through the recesses of my brain until I found it. It wasn't too hard- I just had to follow the tendrils of black that had wrapped their way into everything.

_Like a tidal wave. _For a moment, I think I felt fear. And then, filled with certainty, I plunged in. Back into the Abyss. No escape. No way home. But I had an idea. The Abyss was closing in on my friends, my family, my captives, whatever I dared call them now. I could change that.

I brought her. I clung to her as I dove through the hole into the all-consuming darkness. She was afraid at first, and then accepting once she knew that I had a purpose. We were separate, right after that. I was rage, fire, emotion. She was order, serenity, my lifeline.

We joined hands. We joined everything.

And then we let it explode.

The body I was imagining I had began to fall apart. I pushed the light that we had created between us out, as far as I could.

Then, for a blissful period of rest, I knew nothing.

Rennie

I watched her eyes roll back into her skull and then slowly close. I saw Tobias (_my _Tobias, the one who I had written about for all those years before giving him to this universe and Evelyn here…what had become of all of that?) crumble before her. I saw Daniel go and then hesitate to put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

In the next second, the house was violently torn apart. At first I thought that it could be the hail. Then I decided that it had to be a tornado.

Then I remembered all the talk of the Abyss and was convinced that we were all going to die.

PART III

The new elysia

Drew

_Elysia_

I woke up, and instantly regretted it. It was too early to wake up. I was perfectly content to just lie here, wherever here was…

Hard, grass-covered ground, I realized in the next instant, when self-preservation made me open my eyes. Somewhere new.

Later, there would be time to do whatever needed doing here. Now, I was alone, and at this point mostly alert. I could think.

Evelyn hadn't been controlling her own actions in the Abyss. The real Evelyn, the impulsive, mischievous, but always kind cousin I remembered had been trapped in there somewhere. It hadn't been Evelyn who brought me to the Togainu no Chi universe and attacked my body and mind.

And yet, I could not stop blaming her for it.

To my right, I heard shuffling, and then Hazel was standing over me, already offering me a hand up. "Everyone's over there. Apparently, some people have a lot of explaining to do."

Auby

It was worse hearing Rennie say it the second time. Oddly enough, after everything Tobias had described, and seeing Evelyn sacrifice herself, which had left a mark on all of us, Rennie still sounded calmer than she had in the woods.

She explained it all. What she had done. How she had done it. Why she had done it, even.

Each word made a fresh wound somewhere in me. How could she have done this? How?

And then, there was this place to contend with. We had all ended up lying down, unconscious at the beginning, on the yard of a large house, that we would quickly discover was unlocked.

I think it was Tobias who first speculated that this transfer was different, and that it was Evelyn's doing. There was no magic here, no powers for any of us. We were far from the Abyss, presumably, but we had no way of leaving. No secret weapon.

But somehow, I felt safe.

There were people here, walking down the street, some minding their own business, some interacting. Crazily enough, they seemed more real to me than anyone I had met anywhere else. They were all very clearly people.

Soon enough, there was a routine. The six of us lived in the big house, which no one else came to claim. We explored this strangely unfamiliar new world. I took pains to avoid Rennie and ended up talking to Hazel a lot. Tobias spent too much time alone and Daniel spent too much time worrying after him. Hazel and Rennie hit it off surprisingly well, getting me some time to talk platonically with Drew. We never had that crucial conversation. But at this point, we all knew each other well enough to understand. We had been through enough together.

Days turned into weeks. I was settling down, getting used to this. We all were.

Our next test didn't come for a little over a month.

Rennie

"You have got to be kidding me. You prefer DC, really? I'm not sure how I can even continue to talk to you," I said. "Unless, of course, it serves the sole purpose of talking some damn common sense into you."

"You can talk all day, I won't listen," Hazel said, looking tauntingly up at the sky.

"But seriously, what the hell does DC have to offer?"

"Batman, Superman, the fucking _epitome of heroes,_" Hazel listed in a falsely bored tone.

"Oh my God, you don't understand anything!" I announced in horror. "Marvel is about the PEOPLE that make heroes. It's about character development and interpretation and their _lives. _Please understand that I can't believe this." I looked up. "Please, SOMEONE understand that I can't believe this!"

"Marvel," Hazel threateningly declared, "is stupid. They recycle plots over and over again! And the producers are pretentious assholes, don't you dare argue with that."

"DC," I retaliated. "Is famous for having flat, one-dimensional characters with pasts just mysterious or tragic enough to make them interesting to an uneducated reader. Once you start with Marvel, you can never turn back."

"Wolverine Publicity," Hazel said simply. "_That _is what your precious Marvel is famous for."

"Resorting to TV tropes," Auby commented as she walked into the room, perching herself on the edge of the couch I was slumped on. "Classy, Hazel."

"I'm right, aren't I?" I asked her, because after our stint there Auby was sure to agree with me. It had been an eventful little side trip, but fun none the less.

"Of course you're right, you're always right," Auby said sarcastically, grinning to show it.

"Okay, this is not fair. Two against one," Hazel complained.

"I don't know the first thing about the whole DC business, if that makes you feel any better," Auby replied.

"This argument is ridiculous. I win. I'm leaving," Hazel said, pushing up from the loveseat and attempting to strut, head held high, out of the room.

"I'm right," I mock-whispered to Auby, while Hazel was still in hearing distance. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment at telling such a crude joke. But the grin that Auby flashed me was worth a lot more than Hazel's exasperated glare.

We had won. We were here. And chronic disagreements over comic books notwithstanding, we had become a family in the process.

I smiled at Auby and made room for her on the couch. She transitioned herself to Hazel's former place on the loveseat instead, maintaining a small smile.

Maybe things weren't perfect. But they were so much damn closer than they had ever been.

The sun was shining, and if I looked at the window at just the right angle, it filled my glasses with a brilliant glare. Holding my head like that, with my eyes closed, I felt like I could see through everything and nothing. It was in those brief moments that I got to do this that I not only thought about Evelyn, but prayed for her. For her, or maybe to her. For now, I was okay with not knowing.

Daniel

Tobias's presence in the house put a slight strain on the good feelings that radiated through it. He tried so hard, I could tell. But after spending so long alone, so long in charge, and so long as powerful as he had been on the Forest, he wasn't adjusting well.

Not to mention the destruction of the Forest, which really amounted to the loss of his masterpiece.

And Evelyn. Always Evelyn.

It seemed like he didn't know what to do with himself, most of the time. Tobias was so used to always going after something, used to having at least the _idea _of Evelyn to guide him. But here, now, wasn't his kind of utopia- especially with what it had taken to get here.

I felt terrifyingly inadequate whenever I saw him staring out a window for just a moment too long, or walking aimlessly around the house, like he was trapped here. Tobias needed Evelyn.

And whatever I might be to Tobias, I was not Evelyn.

So I took up avoiding him, with all the woes about how cowardly it was. For all that I had discovered that I could do, here I was fucking useless, and I hated it.

It scared me, all of it. How much pain Tobias was in. The shocking intensity of my hatred of his being in pain. For better or for worse, I cared for him, and I knew, finally understood that somewhere, impossibly, he cared for me.

The looks of longing and then turning his face away in guilt whenever he saw me just hurt more. I had been a substitution. I had been his mistake.

I had never felt dirtier. Or more useless. Or less valid.

Drew

It was impossible to contest the fact that this place was different from anywhere we had ever been before. It was like our original world, familiar and somewhat comforting, but softer at the edges. There were no superpowers, there was nothing expected out of us, at least for now. We could be happy and safe together, with nothing to interrupt.

A thought that I didn't like to entertain about this particular situation, but that managed to surface whenever I so much as looked at Hazel, was that I was bored.

Sometimes, on an intense world with problems to solve, I would have wanted to be here. This would have been my heaven.

I could tell that Hazel was thinking the same things. I could tell whenever she looked at me. But we didn't dare discuss it. How could we even think about leaving this place, when it had taken so much sacrifice to get us here?

This was the end of the line. This was our happily ever after. But the stories had never left off with the character in his happily ever after jumpy and frustrated, almost craving the intensity of the harsh journey behind him?

I missed it. I missed how Hazel and I had been, when we were in there. Here, our relationship was more controlled, more perfunctory, all in all far too normal.

That was why I had chosen the universes once before, when there wasn't really a choice at all. We _worked _there. We could be ourselves and do it perfectly. We had always thought of our lives as us against the world, and now there was just…us.

I tried to be happy. I tried to love this place. But somehow, impossibly, frustratingly, guiltily, I knew that it wasn't quite enough.

Tobias

I saw Evelyn in everything.

She smiled me from golden and red leaves, laughed with the waving grass, caressed me whenever the sun shone.

For awhile, it was every time I stepped outside, and I started spending all of my time inside to I could finally just forget. But a few days later, I began spending all my time outside, taking walks, just sitting around where I could see and feel her and let the subsequent feelings of love and pain that came from sensing her presence wash over me.

I had been walking for almost two hours on a flat stretch of road surrounded on both sides by forest. I knew that I should turn around every second, but something kept pushing me forward.

My gut feelings usually had potential for being right. I kept walking.

Awhile later, I found myself in a deserted parking lot, beach and ocean stretching out in front of me. It was chilly from the wind blowing around me, and the sand was grey in the setting sun.

It was later than I had thought. I shivered, sticking my hands deep into the pockets of my denim jacket. I kept walking, across the parking lot, onto the sand even though it filled my sneakers with its grit. The tide was high, and the waves coming in were passive and gentle.

I couldn't see all the way across, and the sunset was to my right, where in place of sand, a tiny peninsula of rocks of various sizes stretched into the ocean until it faded away into the water.

I walked aimlessly toward it, picking my way over rocks and hearing my feet crunching on pebbles. The beach had smoothly transitioned into the beach made of rock, and I stopped at the edge of it, where water was just nipping at the rocks under my feet.

The mainland was my right, solid, steady, and full of trees. Behind me was the beach. In front of me, the endless ocean and the sunset.

I had heard about sunsets over water. They're more beautiful than any picture, any painting, can show.

Here, I could stop thinking. It was chilly except where the setting sun hit my face, and vast and diverse and blissfully calm. Calm, and yet bold, breathtakingly beautiful.

Yes, Evelyn was here.

I stood there until after dark. I don't know how long I would have stood there, if my cell phone hadn't started buzzing.

"What?" I snapped after opening it, having been detached to human courtesy for a few too many hours.

"Hey, it's me," Daniel said hesitantly over the line. He paused, almost as though getting his bearings, before continuing. "I- uh- I just wanted to see how you were. Do you need a ride home or anything?"

I couldn't speak for a moment, both defensive and pleasantly stricken about his concern. "That would be a good idea, probably," I said, shivering involuntarily. The cold was definitely getting to me- it was hard to move my fingers.

"Okay. Where are you?" he asked, still sounding hesitant.

His awkwardness was not adorable. Daniel Adams was in no way adorable.

I was not allowed to have thoughts like that.

"Um, a beach, somewhere," I replied, suddenly reluctant to disclose it. This was my place, even though I had only been here an hour. "At the end of the road that 67 merges onto, west of our place."

"Okay," he repeated. "See you later, I guess." He hung up quickly, and I was left alone, staring at the grey night sky.

I saw the headlights of the car moving through the darkened forest before I even heard the engine. It was only then that I began walking back up to the parking lot, legs almost painfully stiff.

It was Rennie driving the blue Volvo, which I really should have expected. After all, Rennie was the only one of them who actually knew how to drive a fucking car, so it only made sense that she would do the dangerous nighttime driving on narrow, deserted roads.

For some reason, I had been under the impression that I was waiting for Daniel.

Like Daniel would change anything. It was a ride home, just that.

Rennie parked in the middle of the deserted gravel lot, and I climbed in to the passenger seat. "You walked all the way here?" she asked in her direct way. Direct she was, but she had proven time and time again her ability to be frighteningly creative.

And the rest of us had felt the effects.

Rennie

I didn't know what to say on the ride back up, which took almost twenty minutes. I couldn't tell if he wanted to talk, and knew that he wouldn't want to talk to me anyway. It was all my fault, after all. Through all of this, it had been my fault. Everything.

But who else would he talk to? I asked myself as I drove, the radio doing little to ease the strained silence between us. He barely knew the others.

And I…I had a deeper connection to him than anyone else could really understand. I could _see _him, for everything he was, everything I had made him. Originally.

He was so much more now. I knew that. I lorded nothing over him.

That didn't mean that I couldn't tell that he was in pain.

"You have to think about her sometimes, right?" he finally asked, voice slightly husky.

"Of course I do," I said. "It's just…she wasn't in my life much anyway, I've missed her since she left for college. But the fact that she's dead…" I paused, gathering my thoughts. I had to say the right things. I had to find the right words. "Everything's so different now already, and for some reason, her being gone is less strange than I thought it would be."

Tobias was silent for a long, tense moment.

Then, "You," he said. "Really are a monster." The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I parked the car in the driveway to our house, and he slipped out the passenger door at the first possible moment.

I stayed right where I was, unable to move except for my shaking hands. I gasped, my throat painfully tight. My eyes grew hot with angry tears.

I had been called a lot of things.

But never before on Elysia.

And I had never been called a monster.

Auby

Tobias stormed inside silently, clearly seething. Hazel turned down the volume on the TV and we exchanged a look. Tobias didn't even acknowledge us, he simply walked down the hall and slammed a door.

I don't know what Hazel was thinking, but I spent the next minute staring at the front door, waiting for Rennie to come back in.

They had probably talked. And that conversation was more likely to end badly than well.

"I'm going to go see what's up," I half-whispered to Hazel, on some compulsion.

To my great joy, Hazel respectfully paused the episode of Criminal Minds we were on and picked up a book from the coffee table. (It really was big of her- this was an intense episode.) I grabbed a sweatshirt from the back of the couch and pulled it over my head to walk outside.

I resisted the urge to sprint from the door to the car because of the chilly air. I walked with a quick clip over to the car, and let myself in without knocking or anything.

Rennie didn't even look at me, but from the dim glow of the outside light, I could see a tear track highlighted on her face.

"Hey," I said softly, amiably, ready for her to start talking. She was the kind of person who needed to talk, I realized. And if she couldn't, she needed to express herself somehow. The exact opposite of me.

So I was letting her. "What did he say?" I prompted, after a scary moment in which she did not start talking.

"It doesn't matter, you would probably agree," she said quickly, her voice hoarse and clearly upset.

"Rennie," I said. "I know you. I know you've done stupid things, but I get that and I won't ever judge, you know that. I know you better than Tobias ever could. I won't agree, especially not when it's making you this upset."

"He called me a monster." The words were forced out in a whisper.

"Harsh," I said neutrally, and then added "He doesn't know you. He doesn't care who you are. Haters to the left, right?"

Rennie's shoulders shook. I think she was trying to laugh, but it was forced and hysterical and in all honestly sounded more like sobbing. "But he's not just some person," she explained in short bursts of breath. "He's fucking _Tobias. _And whatever he says, I deserve it. That's the part I hate."

"That's what he believes," I relented. "But you can't. He doesn't define you, Ren, you define yourself."

I was pretty sure that this was the deepest conversation I had ever had.

"I tried that," she said slowly, her voice thankfully calming. "Look how that turned out."

I reached for her hand, her slim fingers cold against mine. "We're here. That's how it turned out."

She was silent for awhile, as the physical contact became almost awkward for me. "Remember Marvel?" she asked finally, voice clear.

"Time of our lives," I responded quietly.

And then, for awhile, we just sat there, holding hands over the console, thinking of the past and the future and everything all at once.

Drew

"Okay, I have fucking PROOF," Hazel stated as she entered the kitchen at eight o'clock in the morning the next day. Apparently even Elysia had daylight savings time, and it had been last night, so we were all up extra early.

Or, perhaps, Hazel had planned this revelation for when the rest of us weren't awake enough to really function, the little sneak.

I kind of stared at her for a minute as she carried a packet of papers (it was even stapled, god) over to the table and slapped it down beside Rennie's cereal.

"Here, it clearly illustrates that among various detailed points that you can read over in depth on your own time, DC is _fucking boss." _

I thought that she was taking this a bit far, but Hazel's strange, strange ways of interacting with the world and the people in it seemed to work perfectly well on Rennie.

Auby paused with a spoonful of Cinnamon Toast Crunch halfway to her mouth and gave me an incredulous look. I kind of shrugged back at her. _Not my fault. _

Rennie took her sweet time, flipping through the first five pages of the novel-length packet Hazel had presented as she finished chewing her cereal.

"You're an excellent researcher. You must really be an expert at copying and pasting articles and reviews onto a single overly long word document," Rennie said, completely without mirth. I saw Auby grin- maybe she had never seen Rennie that sarcastic either. Hazel rubbed off on everyone around her. "And, to humor you, Marvel has deeper characters, richer stories, and so much more diversity. DC is about superheroes, Marvel is about the people inside them. And the fucking allegory, don't even get me started-"

She probably could have gone on for hours (the two of them _had _done that before) but immediately stopped when Tobias walked in. Hazel had informed me that something had happened between the two of them last night that had led to (as far as she knew) Tobias storming inside and Rennie and Auby spending the night in the car.

Even without knowing that, I would have been able to sense the tension that Rennie was radiating. There was a hard set to Auby's expression, too.

Tobias grabbed a bowl and sat down at a free seat to pour some cereal. Silence reigned in the kitchen for a few tense seconds, even Hazel acknowledging the awkward potential of the situation.

"Alright, I've been pretty discrete about this before, and I know you'll be disappointed, Hazel, but I have to agree with Rennie on this one," I said casually, itching to turn the radio on, or something.

It took Rennie a couple seconds to realize that I was referring to their constant ongoing comic company argument. "Ha!" she said. "This has to be an automatic win. _I have your boyfriend._"

"You're holding Drew for ransom?" Daniel asked as he walked in, flicked his eyes back and forth a few times to appraise the situation, and then settled in a chair next to Tobias, who had been silent this entire time.

"I can't believe that you would betray me like that," Hazel said, and though her tone was mocking, I had to cover up the stab of guilt that I felt when I saw Auby out of the corner of my eye. She refused to know already, with all we had been through together. Someday.

"Marvel has more depth, as much pain as it causes me to say it," I replied.

"Comics were never my thing, but I prefer DC. The DC heroes are more, I don't know, iconic," Daniel said, to everyone's surprise.

"Yes! Thank you!" Hazel exclaimed, reaching across the table to awkwardly high five her new comrade.

"See, but you only say that because you know nothing about Marvel," Rennie argued.

"Well, I am saying that from the perspective of someone who doesn't really know Marvel, thus showing that DC is perhaps slightly more epic and famous," Daniel argued. This was a strong stance, for him.

"Please, I dare you to go out there and find someone who has never heard of the X-men," Rennie said confidently.

"And then you go find me someone who can't draw the Superman logo," Hazel teased.

"Can't we just do rock paper scissors and call it a day?" Auby asked. "I'm solidly with Team Marvel, but really, this argument is getting out of hand.

I agreed, but I liked having it around so long as it amused and distracted the girls.

"I say we put it to a vote," Daniel suggested. "I'm for DC. Hazel's like a 200 page packet for DC. Anyone else?"

Tobias raised his hand. "I say DC. Because Batman."

"You're a _Batman _fan? If you knew anything about the Wolverine-" Rennie campaigned.

"Uh-uh. No. Not allowed anymore," I cautioned. It was only then that Rennie seemed to realize who she was talking to. Her face reddened and she looked down, refusing to make eye contact with any of us. "I say Marvel, Rennie shouts Marvel, and Auby, right? Shit," I commented, seeing the problem.

"Back to my rock paper scissors plan," Auby joked, but it fell flat. In an instant, everyone was acutely aware that there should be seven of us.

Evelyn

It was dark here, and so, so cold.

This wasn't the Abyss. I had spent hours upon hours cataloguing every change from the Abyss I remembered so clearly- the cold, the sensation of having a body that I could feel and move, the way I could close my eyes and _see _what was going on in the outside world.

I closed my eyes a lot. There wasn't much else I could do, here. Sometimes, it felt like this dark prison was shrinking around me. It made my blood move faster in veins that may or may not exist, filling me with the acute sensation of being crushed.

I could escape, but not really. I knew that I couldn't spend eternity here.

I had a theory, during one of those awful panicked moments of shrinking, that I was still in the Abyss. I was in the part of the Abyss that had perhaps been pushed aside, or somehow scavenged, when Elysia was built. It was a cross between the two, and it made sense because when I tried to look out, I could see only Elysia.

Perhaps I didn't want to see anything else, but Elysia was the only world I could sense when I opened up my mind.

Perhaps it was the only world that still existed. I had long theorized that other worlds drew off the Abyss, which was why it connected them. Elysia drew off this. Off of me.

I watched, like I had watched for so long back in the real Abyss, the place of nightmares and impossibilities. There was something better about this one, something that let me keep my happiness, keep my soul alive.

Maybe it was the same spirit that ran Elysia.

Though when I watched my friends (and sister, and acquaintences- hell, some of them near strangers), it was hard to believe that Elysia was fulfilling its purpose. Bad blood ran between them in some cases, too many lines had been crossed.

They were healing. But slowly.

Tobias especially, when I could bear to look at him. After all he had done, to lose me again…

Elysia was meant to be heaven. For him, it was just another hell.

One time- days didn't pass for me as they did elsewhere, I couldn't even keep track of the passage of time on Elysia- I noticed something new when I opened my eyes to the usual blackness of this place.

A circle, only partially cut, just in front of me.

I didn't even think about what I did next. It was a crazy, blind decision, and Tobias and I had once agreed that that was the only way to live.

I shot through the circular hole, straight back into the Abyss.

Instantly, I was drowning. No air. No sound, no light, no feeling.

But, once the initial panic wore off, I realized that I could still see.

Two things. On one side, the prison I had been in before. On the other, far in the distance (though how far, it was impossible to tell here), was a tiny beacon of light.

I didn't know what that light was. Maybe it was the kind of window that had broken me the last time. Maybe it was something new, and maybe it was nothing.

By sheer force of will, I moved toward it. Away from my cold, dark, but somehow relieving prison, and into the unknown.

The Abyss was as it always had been; and I couldn't help but remember flashes from the last time, flashbacks so powerful they nearly stopped my progression. This entire place was my personal demon, and I didn't even know where I was going.

No, that would not do, I realized as it seemed to get further away. Memories of my encounter with Drew, my experience with avatars, were threatening to overwhelm conscious, present thought. I had to get there. I had to believe that it was something worth fighting my way to. I had to prove that I could do it.

Inch by inch, or perhaps light year by light year, I moved through the syrupy black Abyss.

I was alone, afraid, traumatized, and terrified. But never could I allow myself to be hopeless.

The white light, barely more than a dot, grew bigger. I couldn't go back. I had known the second I pushed away, that my little corner was lost forever. I was on my own, me and the light.

_Back in the Abyss._

Toward the light. Focus on the light.

_Alone, dark, deprived, insane._

I could do this.

_Nothing, nobody…_

I tried to keep my thoughts about me. I tried to hold on to my hope. The light was getting closer.

_It's your imagination. _

The light. Was getting. Closer.

With a final, impossible push, I was there. It was what I had always thought it had been, a gleaming circle of white light. I couldn't tell the dimensions- hell, I couldn't tell my dimensions.

I had come all this way. Anything, absolutely anything, was better than the Abyss.

I plunged through, and screamed at daylight.

Tobias

Through an open window, I heard something fall in the backyard.

I took no notice, preferring to keep my eyes trained on the book I was reading.

At some point, I had forgotten. That one of the things I had always done, always planned to do, was look up. Look around.

_Stars were important, we said. Wherever we were, whatever we had done that night, we would always notice the stars. Even if we were so high the stars came down from the sky to say hello, or turned into alien spaceships that we had to shoot down with finger guns, the stars were still important._

_Everything was important, we decided. The cracks and stains on the buildings we passed by. The little grasses struggling to grow up through sidewalks. The subtle glances strangers shot at other strangers, at least to us. Everything. _

_That was where we ended up, with everything. At the beginning, I think I showed Evelyn the stars, and she showed me the world. _

My eyes didn't move from the page until I heard a gasp and an incredulous whisper of _oh my God _from Auby.

I wasn't so far gone that I didn't turn around at that.

I almost didn't believe what I saw.

A ghost, it had to be a ghost.

A ghost that was still there after I blinked and turned away and counted to ten and did everything I could to ground myself in reality.

I couldn't even remember her face that perfectly.

I spent far, far too long trying to convince myself that it wasn't true. And from then on, I was running with everyone else out to the back yard to greet this impossible, inconceivable mirage of Evelyn.

Hazel

It was totally impossible. But I had seen impossible-er things.

She didn't even look at me, and that was okay. I knew that she wasn't here for me.

I stood back, and let myself watch.

It was really her, I could tell in an instant. She looked shy and demure, like she had when I had known her in real life, so, so long ago, calm and at the same time frazzled. Her hair was long and golden again, and somehow, seeing that, the memories of her in her real life had come back. _This _was Evelyn Novak, in her truest form. Light and nature surrounding her. People who loved her crowding around her.

I didn't question how she was here. That would come later. Right now, it just _was _and for a second it seemed like everything was right about this world.

When everyone was outside, she spoke. Her voice had a lilting, faraway, airy quality to it that seemed perfectly fitting to the mirage form she held herself in. "I've been watching," she said simply.

Somehow, nobody knew how to respond to that. Of course, the only one of us who finally did was Drew. "DC or Marvel?" He meant it as a joke, and in some says it could have been one. But the way he said it, nostalgic and kind, conveyed layers of deeper meaning.

Evelyn smiled, and it was a sad, bittersweet thing, full of sorrow and genuine appreciation. "Marvel. Sorry, Hazel, Daniel, Tobias," she said, and that meant something deeper too. Later.

"I knew it," Rennie said, her voice breaking slightly, like she was starting to cry. I didn't blame her one bit.

"I don't think I have very long," Evelyn said, her voice speeding up with the urgency of the statement. "I didn't understand before, but I see it so much clearer, now. I was sent here. I'm supposed to be here. And then, I get to be somewhere else."

Tobias seemed to detect the fearful eagerness in the last statement just as I did. "Where were you before?" he asked dangerously.

I prayed as hard as any of them that she would say anything, absolutely anything, other than Abyss.

"I don't know," she responded, and I wasn't sure whether I should relax. Drew's warm hand found mine, and I tightened the hold immediately. This was freaky and disconcerting. "It was different. Better. Not much better, but better." She paused for a second, the rest of us essentially holding our breath in anticipation. "I can see it so much better now. I'm going somewhere after this. A better place, really better."

"That's good," Tobias said, voice choked with emotion but somehow relaxed at the same time. Simply seeing her face seemed to have helped him a little.

"I love you," she responded immediately to Tobias. I couldn't see his face, but I didn't need to.

Tobias

"Likewise," I managed over the hard lump in my throat. She was here. She wasn't. She was mine. She was practically gone again.

"Remember what I told you when I died?" Evelyn asked. All too well, was the answer.

"_Run. Run away and don't think about me. Pretend I never existed. I want you to live your life, and be all that you can without me. I'll support anything you choose to do, but just please forget me and do not ever stop running."_

_She bled out before she got a chance to close her eyes. _

All too well.

"Never stop," I summarized, trying to smile. It wavered, but I knew she understood.

"I was pretty delirious," she said, with a gracious smile of her own. I looked at her, hard, memorizing her face for the last time. Every freckle, every eyelash. For as long as I lived.

"I meant never change, I think," she continued, her smile of warmth turning to one of caring and affection. "But that's pretty irrelevant now, huh?"

"Whatever you say." Whatever she said. Right now, I would literally do anything she asked. I would lay my life and soul on the line to get her back, and we both knew it.

"Change," she said simply. "Just let yourself be. I'll be gone, and whatever happens" she paused in a moment of painful nostalgia "pretend that you know I'm happy. Live. I love you, I'll love you forever and a part of me wants you to never stop loving me, but a bigger part just wants you to be happy. So please, Tobias, just try. Live this one out for yourself."

"Okay," I replied, not confidently and not strongly, but maybe that would come in time.

She turned away, and it was like she was gone already.

But seeing even the back of her head, the image of her I had fixed in my mind, I knew that I was all the stronger for it.

Rennie

"You started all of this," she said, and I quickly wiped away a tear that had escaped my eye. I had. I was a terrible person and deserved to rot in hell. And yet here I was, in what may as well have been heaven. "Thank you," she continued unexpectedly. "You're the reason this world exists. You're the reason all these souls have found a place. End justifies the means, here, and I say this as the means." She laughed at her own unexpected joke.

_You can't possibly be serious. _"Evelyn, I am so sorry-" I didn't even know what else to say. There weren't enough words.

"I know," she said, and it was all-encompassing, like she knew everything about me, and forgave me.

In that instant, I finally, truly forgave her. "I love you," I said, something I hadn't said to her in almost a decade.

"I love you too," she repeated sincerely. "And Ren, this world of yours? Enjoy it. Use it. Love it. It's perfect for you, and" she leaned close to me. Her hair would have brushed my face if she was really there. "It was made for you.

I couldn't speak. Tears kept falling. But I knew she understood.

"The rest of you," Evelyn continued, looking up and seeming to grow taller "have a choice."

Auby

I didn't like the sound of that, for some primal reason. I loved it here and I wanted to spend the rest of my life here.

I had made a choice once before. The wrong choice.

This was my most perfect world. I didn't want to be ripped away again.

"You can keep all this," she said, spreading her hand over us to signify Elysia. "Or you can go back."

"To …before?" asked Drew, who hadn't already chosen as I had.

"No. To after before," she tried to explain.

"To being wanderers?" Daniel asked, and it was a new term for me, but it seemed to fit.

Wanderers. I had been a wanderer. Once, I had tried to stay a wanderer.

Now, I just wanted out.

"Yes," she replied simply enough. Then, she was achingly quiet as she waited for the rest of us to make a decision.

"This is the only home I've ever wanted. I'm staying here," I replied immediately. Before, I hadn't even known my identity. Now, I knew where my loyalties lied.

Drew

Could I go back?

Could I stay here?

Hell, did my decision even matter? I still didn't know if it mattered last time.

"I'm staying, too," Daniel declared, which was not surprising in itself, but that he was so quick to answer at all.

Evelyn had said that there wasn't much time.

I looked at Hazel. Our hands were still securely twined together, and she was already looking at me. She was asking me. Not for instructions, not for a choice, but to let me decide this time.

_I need her. She needs it. _

She had chosen the universes last time. I had followed.

Now, it was my turn, and I didn't change a thing. "I choose that life."

"Me too," Hazel said immediately. Our grips tightened at once, both recalling that one awful time when we were ripped away from each other in the Abyss.

Never again. This was forever. This was how we'd formed ourselves, and where we were meant to be.

I was ready to accept that.

Hazel

I turned to Auby first. "Good luck, then?" I started.

She pulled me into a quick hug. "Nice knowing you. Really. Honestly." Her eyes told me that she had a lot more to say. A question.

"I forgive you," I said, meaning it. Everything that had happened before all this, our past lives, no matter how we may be going back to them, was water under the bridge.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry. For everything." She turned to Drew, and I turned away.

"Rennie," I said, distracting her from looking up at Evelyn. "I think you won. I'll see you- well, bye," I finished, waving awkwardly from three feet away.

"In any other situation you'd have a comeback, so let's call it a tie," Rennie replied, and for a moment, I realized just how much it sounded like a conversation between two real, mature, adults. "And good luck."

"You too," I said. I acknowledged Daniel with a nod. There was nothing that needed to be said there, because sometimes it seemed like Daniel, my friendship with Daniel, went beyond words. We were parting ways now, and that was that.

"Are you ready?" asked Evelyn, and I was considerate enough not to comment on how she had never asked us that before. Water under the bridge.

"Yeah," Drew said, taking my hand again. "Yeah, I think we are."

I looked around at the group standing around me one last time. Over the past few years, especially the last few months, they had become my _people _in some deep and irreversible way. We would forever be connected by the experiences we had shared.

I knew that none of them would ever forget us. And even though I was pretty sure I would never see any of them ever again, I wouldn't forget them either.

They were my allies, my friends, hell, they had become my family by whatever definition. My people. In a way that was forever binding, but hopefully not irreplaceable.

They all had each other. I had Drew. The world was as close to peace as it could ever come, and I was going back to my ideal, perfect ordered chaos.

This was what we had been aiming for all along, it seemed like. We were parting ways, but when I looked at the situation one last time, this was the most perfect path.

There were no perfect words for the situation. Any long or short farewell would have been too light for everything that had happened between all of us.

I looked around at everyone's faces one last time. I suddenly wished that I had taken the chance I had to get to know all of them better. I wanted to go up to Auby and tell her that the whole Lost-verse thing was water under the bridge and I didn't think any less of her for it. I would tell Daniel how much he had taught me, and Rennie that I believed that she really was a good person, because I couldn't be sure if they already knew it.

But I could tell that our time was up. Drew's hand was molded into mine, both of our grips so much stronger than they had been the first time. We would make it. Together.

I was smiling as the world went dark.

Daniel

Auby looked at me for a quick second, acknowledging that we were both staying, and then turned to Rennie with ease.

Good. She took Rennie's hand reassuringly, and we all looked back up at Evelyn. She was fading now, it seemed. Before it could have been a trick of the light. But now, her ghostly form was growing fainter by the second.

"You'll all remember me, yeah?" she said, her voice almost too light to be heard. "Because this beautiful world…" she vanished, and her voice grew too faint to hear.

But we had heard enough.

For a moment, we all just stood there, perhaps waiting for her to come back. Unfortunately, sometimes life doesn't work that way. Nobody had moved, and there was some kind of gap where Hazel and Drew had been standing. Me next to Tobias, and Auby and Rennie a few feet away.

Auby spoke up first. "Guess that's it, then," she half whispered, disbelievingly. Evelyn Novak was dead.

It didn't mean much to me. When it came right down to it, I had barely known her. She had had so much control over my life, had been so invested in me, and I could still barely list three things about her.

It was like an authority figure had died- it left me feeling unsettled, but not very distraught.

I was free to worry about everyone else. Auby had looked up to Evelyn, so much, always. Rennie and Tobias… they would never get over this. Evelyn had been at least one of the most important people in each of their lives.

We wouldn't forget her, I decided resolutely. She was embedded into this world, and each of us, forever. Evelyn would want them all- us all- happy.

I took a deep breath, and when I thought it appropriate, I began to voice those same sentiments. For the first time in what felt like forever, Tobias's brilliant eyes met mine.

Hazel

She sent us to the Forest first. Our new home base. We had raised enough hell on Yeiverica already.

There was no praying involved anymore. No discussion with higher powers that may or may not exist, no pleading. This was all us.

I turned to Drew, smiling beside me. "Where do you want to start?"


End file.
